River's Run
by cbstevp
Summary: River Tam is on the run from the Alliance once again, while Simon, Mal, and many others are looking for her as well. Sequel to The Return and The Return Home.
1. Chapter 1

_Sequel to "The Return" and "The Return Home". River finds herself once more on the run from the Alliance as her friends are scattered across the verse, coming to terms with the new reality of their situation._

_Third story in a series that started with "The Return", followed by "The Return Home". Please read those for any background information. _

**River's Run – Part 1 **

The third moon of Paquin was a cloudy, rainy, forest covered world, with some farming settlements hacked out of the thick forests on the one main landmass that was surrounded by water. It was not where River Tam had wanted to go. Four days earlier she had broken out of a prison cell on a gunship that was taking her to Londinium for trial and most likely execution for crimes against the Alliance. Her specific crime was stealing the plans to a Faster Than Light drive that Kaylee had built on Serenity, with a little help from some friends in a far off place. Those plans were sent out on the Cortex and now everyone in the galaxy had seen them. This had angered the Alliance to no end because they had wanted exclusive rights to those plans and so River was promptly arrested. After escaping from the cell of the prison gunship, she had killed some of the crew, and exiled the others on a barren moon where they were soon found. She had also freed one other prisoner, James Patterson, who had decided to stay with her since he faced a death sentence from hard labor on mining colony. His crime had been to help Serenity's crew in a gunfight with the Alliance. Discovered by an Alliance cruiser near Paquin, they had abandoned the gunship for this small shuttle and hoped to escape on foot on the moon below. Two Alliance fighters had put an end to that plan, slamming slugs into the shuttle and shattering its hull and systems.

As the smoking shattered shuttle from the Alliance gunship River had taken over came in through the clouds, she saw an open field amidst the trees and tried to steer her broken machine for that location. She was in the pilot's seat strapped in tight. She turned and saw James Patterson, lying on the floor of the shuttle, fear in his eyes, the only sounds the wind whistling through the gaping holes in the fuselage.

"Get strapped in!" she yelled. "We're going to crash!" Paralyzed for an instant, the next moment he was clawing his way into the co-pilot's chair, trying to get the straps fastened.

River fought the ship but the Alliance fighters had done their work and the controls were wrecked, the approach speed was too high and they overshot the clearing. River pulled up, the controls barely responding, and the ship bled off speed, began to shake, and then slowly fell as gravity took over. The stabilizing jets were shot to hell and River barely managed to take the shuttle in for a not very controlled landing in the tree tops. Branches snapped, tree tops were sliced off and the shuttle went tumbling out of control and down to the ground below, just as the two Alliance fighters streaked over head and marked its crash site.

* * *

"Simon, we don't even know where to start looking," Zoe said to Simon Tam through a Cortex screen in a hotel room on Ariel. Jayne and Wash sat nearby on, all three looking at the screen, still a bit stunned at Simon wanting to hire them to find River. They had just returned from buying the new Serenity with the money Mal gave them from his proceeds of selling the original Serenity to the Alliance.

"She's on an Alliance gunship. That's all I know," Simon replied. "Please. I need your help."

"What you offering for payment?" Jayne asked as both Zoe and Wash gave him dirty looks. "What? We in business ain't we? And he's a customer? Right? In case you all forgot, Mal was the one who got the million credits, not us!"

"I'll pay what I can," Simon replied. "We'll be on Taos. Kaylee is working for the Alliance now and they are paying her well and I'll be practicing medicine again soon. Besides, my father is quite wealthy. Don't worry, Jayne, you'll get paid."

"Simon, it's not the money, or the difficulty of the whole thing," Zoe said. "It's just…"

Wash stepped in when she searched for the words. "We've just got out from under the law," he told Simon, his face pressed close to the Cortex screen. "And this…this is highly…well, not on the right side of the law."

Simon was silent for a few seconds as he took in the look from Zoe that told him she agreed with her husband. "I don't want you to get in trouble. It's just…I have no one else to turn to. Is there any way you can search…without raising Alliance suspicions?"

Zoe nodded and grasped at this idea. "We can ask questions, keep our eyes and ears to the verse and see what she tells us of River Tam. And I ain't taking any money."

"The hell we ain't!" Jayne yelled. "You start acting all high and noble like Mal, Zoe, I think I might just find me another crew to ship out on."

Simon sensed an argument coming on and quickly interrupted. "Zoe, I will pay. You find her or information that leads to her, I will pay."

Jayne seemed to be satisfied with that answer. Then Wash said something that no one had thought of. "Simon, if you find her, what happens next?"

Simon was a bit surprised at that one. "I…well…I hadn't thought that far ahead yet."

Wash raised an eyebrow. "Well, you should. Because if you help her, if we help her, we'll all be accessories. And you know what that means."

"Yes," Simon replied. "I'll think of something."

Zoe gave him a sympathetic smile. "We'll be in touch. Say hi to Mal and Kaylee."

"I will. Thanks. For everything." Simon said goodbye and then the wave ended.

"He's off his rocker," Jayne grunted as he lay back on a bed. "We'll all end up in the clink or hanging from a rope for sure."

"You want out Jayne, you know the door swings both ways," Zoe said as she stood over him and glared at him.

"Hell, Zoe," Jayne answered as he sat up. "Them Tams ain't been nothing but trouble from day one. Ain't that right, Wash?"

Wash shook his head. "No, that ain't right, Jayne. Trouble and saviors. They have brought lots of trouble on us, but then again, when I think back, we always attracted trouble even before the Tams came on board. River has saved our bacon a few times, being a well trained assassin and all. And I do recall how she was the one who found Kaylee after the Reavers had kidnapped her, and then slipped into their lair and fought off dozens of them while waiting for rescue. And Simon. Well, Simon has only saved Kaylee's life twice, plus Mal and Zoe, and pulled lots of slugs and metal out of you, me, everyone."

"Gorramnit! How many times we gotta say thank you before that debt is paid!" Jayne said in frustration.

"One more time," said Zoe and Jayne and her locked eyes and Jayne just rolled his eyes and then nodded once and Zoe knew he was in for the whole show.

* * *

The ten Alliance soldiers spread out as they walked through the forest toward the crashed shuttle's location. In front was their commander, checking a tracking device, homing in on the crash site in the thick forest. He was a young lieutenant not even three months out of the officer training school on Londinium. Here was his first real assignment, chasing two escaped prisoners who had commandeered a gunship, killed some its crew and released some others. The lieutenant had been warned that one of the prisoners was extremely dangerous. River Tam, 21 years old, from Osiris. Recently arrested for high treason. Now wanted for murder of the gunship crewmen. Their orders were to shoot her on sight. The other prisoner, James Patterson, was an ex-Alliance prison guard. His crimes were classified.

The tracking device homed in and they were close, less than fifty years away now, but the forest was too thickly sown with massive trees, reaching well over one hundred feet, with trunks wider than a man's spread arms. It was a boreal forest, on a small moon of Paquin that received plenty of rain, and thus had some farming communities, eking out an existence with cattle and sheep which thrived on the plentiful grass in the fields hacked out of the forests. They had to land their ship in one of those fields and hike in to the crash site, the foliage too dense for a landing.

Suddenly one of his men stopped, raised an arm and dropped to one knee. The lieutenant and the rest followed suit. The soldier was pointing and there through the trees, they could see the smoking remains of the shuttle.

"Shoot to kill the girl. The other one, take alive" ordered the lieutenant, still not quite believing the orders to kill a young woman on sight. He had to trust that those above him knew the situation better than he did.

They slowly approached the crash site, all tense, weapons out and ready. They moved from tree to tree, looking for trouble, but none came. There was silence from the wreck. The lieutenant was the first to the clearing the shuttle made as it came down through the trees. Lying on the ground was Patterson, sitting propped against a tree trunk and some cushions taken from the wrecked shuttle. His left leg was twisted at an odd angle, blood came from a cut on his forehead, and his face was filled with pain.

"Where is she?" the lieutenant asked after he and his men searched and found no sign of River.

'Gone," Patterson said through gritted teeth. "Lucky for you."

The soldiers looked at each other in puzzlement. "What do you mean?" one asked.

Patterson would have laughed if he wasn't in such pain. "You'd all be dead if she had stayed."

"There are ten of us," said another.

"It doesn't matter. She'd win."

The lieutenant looked at Patterson's leg. "Give this man some aid," he said to the team medic and the medic bent and began to work.

"You're not going to kill me?" Patterson asked in surprise.

"No, Patterson. You still have to pay for your crimes, whatever they may be" the lieutenant said. "Now where did River Tam say she was going?"

Patterson grunted. "You don't want to chase her. You don't know what she is, what she is capable of. I've seen her in action. She's…unstoppable."

"Where is she going?" the lieutenant asked again, his anger rising.

"She's running. And you'll never catch her."

* * *

Trees zipped past River in a green blur as she sought to put distance between her and the Alliance squad that was by now at the crash site. She had sensed them coming, had felt them searching for her and the ship. She wanted to fight, to kill them all, but Patterson was injured and there was no way he could walk out of these woods without assistance. He would just slow her down and she knew he would die without medical attention. A quick assessment told her that they would most likely not kill him. He hadn't killed anyone on the gunship and his crimes were minor compared to hers. Perhaps he could survive on the mining colony where he was scheduled to be incarcerated. That was his only real chance now anyway. For a small moment River had actually thought of killing him so he could tell them nothing about her, but Patterson had saved Kaylee's father and had been a friend to Shepherd Book, so she quickly put that thought aside, said a quick goodbye, and she could see in his eyes he understood what she was doing and then she was gone.

Where to was now a matter of guessing. She knew there was a village or farming community of some type nearby, but she had no way to navigate in these forests and did not know the way the sun of this system rose and fell on this moon, how long day and night were, or anything at all. All River knew was that it was a moon of Paquin and there had to be some kind of spaceport for ships to come and go.

Then there was some light ahead, a clearing and River knew she was coming to the place she had tried to land. Suddenly thoughts filled her head, a woman's voice and thoughts. She stopped and checked her pistols. River was dressed the same as the last few days, in a light green shirt and green skirt, her black combat boots. She had her two 9mm pistols, 15 rounds each and some extra clips. On her back was a backpack retrieved from the shuttle. Inside it were some water bottles, instant food packets, a small medical kit, and her extra ammo. She needed a shower and had numerous scratches, cuts, and bruises from her crash landing.

"I hate waiting," said a voice in her head and River could sense the direction it came from. "Where the hell are they?"

She slowly moved from tree to tree and then she could see something metallic through the trees. There was a small shuttle, not much bigger than the one she had crashed in. Standing outside and pacing was a woman in an Alliance pilot's uniform. She had her helmet off and her long black hair was in a ponytail. She was about River's age, medium height and build, and was obviously impatient at waiting for the soldiers. As River watched she took out a communicator.

"Red Fox, this is the Nest, over," the pilot said into the comms device.

"Red Fox 1, check," came the reply from a man, perhaps the officer in charge of the ground team, River surmised.

"Status report, Red Fox 1."

"Site secure. One prisoner alive but injured. Preparing him for evac now. Second prisoner, female, missing and assumed armed and highly dangerous."

"Roger that, Red Fox 1. ETA to my six?"

"Approximately ten to fifteen minutes, over."

"Roger that, Red Fox 1. Report in when on the move. Over and out."

The pilot then went inside her ship but left the door open. She had just settled in the pilot's seat and was about to contact the cruiser Saratoga high above them when she felt the cold steel of a pistol muzzle pressing against her neck.

"Do you want to live?" River said very matter-of-factly.

Slowly the pilot nodded 'yes'.

"Good. Now fly me to the nearest space port."

"It's no good. They will track us, find you."

"Let me worry about that. All you have to do is fly."

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Are you going to give me any trouble?"

"No."

"Good. Let's go." In a few moments the shuttle was in the air.

* * *

Deep in the woods the team had final gotten Patterson on a portable stretcher and was on its way out. As per orders the lieutenant contacted the pilot.

"Nest, this is Red Fox 1. Over."

No answer. He tried again and again but there was no answer. They got to the clearing and he finally understood why. The shuttle was gone.

"Gorramnit!" cursed the lieutenant.

Patterson was loopy on morphine. He laughed and grinned at them. "Told you she was good."

"Sir, we can contact the cruiser, right?" asked a young soldier.

"Not with this," the lieutenant said as he held up his small comms device.

"What are we going to do, sir?" asked the medic. The lieutenant looked and saw a house and barn of a farm off in the distance.

"Let's go find out how friendly the neighbors are," he said and pointed toward the farm. As they started walking toward the buildings it began to rain, making the walk all the more miserable.

* * *

"Zoe said she would do what she could," Simon told Kaylee as he rejoined her in the dining area of Serenity and sat at the table where she was sipping some tea. They were on their way to Taos and Simon had just sent a wave via the machine in Inara's shuttle. Serenity was alone so no one was tracking wave transmissions this time. If the pilot's asked or any of the other Alliance personal got nosy, Simon was sure Mal would tell them to mind their own business.

"We'll find her, I'm sure of it," Kaylee said to reassure her husband. God, they were married now! Well, married in the legal sense, but a proper wedding and honeymoon were still on the agenda. "Simon, is my mother's wedding dress still…"

"Yes, it's in Inara's shuttle. Hanging by itself where her clothes used to be."

"We should make some plans," Kaylee said, hoping to take his mind off of River.

"Plans for what?" Captain Malcolm Reynolds asked as he entered from the fore hall and went to get some coffee.

Kaylee grinned. "Our wedding."

"Oh, right," Mal said in a sarcastic way. "Now that you two are all settled in, working for the great Alliance, pardoned and all that stuff, I guess life can go on."

Kaylee and Simon looked at each other in surprise. "What's wrong, Capt'n?"

Mal just sighed as he sat at the table with them. "Nothing. Didn't mean to cast a cloud on your happiness. Just…something ain't right with all this."

"Mal, we haven't given up hope of finding River. I contacted Zoe and she said they would keep an open eye for news."

"Doc, don't go dragging them into this less they know what they're getting into."

"Zoe knows," Simon said. "She won't get directly involved. Just, I need to know something. I can't face my parents without knowing River is safe."

"Simon, River did what she did for us, so we all could go on with our lives," Mal said in his most serious manner. "You know I ain't gonna forget that. But all she did will go to waste if you and Kaylee jump back into the fire with her. You two get to Taos and do what you gotta do. Staying out of trouble is best you can do for River."

"I can't give up!" Simon said in frustration and anger.

Mal put down his coffee cup. "Didn't ask you to. But maybe you think River doesn't want you to look? Maybe she wants to be alone, let some time pass, let things calm down. And when she is good and ready she will contact you."

"The Alliance will not stop looking. We were gone for four years and they didn't stop looking," Simon said in despair.

Mal knew he was right and he felt those old feelings again, just before a fight started, yet there was no one to fight this time. Something was bothering him, a feeling he couldn't explain, like an itch you can't scratch. Going to Shadow, settling down with Inara, while it all sounded great, fact was, Mal knew it was something that, well, just might have to wait.

"You two go to Taos, you do what Alliance wants," Mal said and then said some words he knew he would regret later. "But let others do the looking and the finding and the fighting."

Kaylee felt her heart soar at these words. "You mean…you, Capt'n?"

Mal ignored her direct query but did answer indirectly. "She's gonna be mighty sore at me, Kaylee. You gotta make her understand."

Kaylee understood who he meant. "I will. She will."

"Good girl," Mal said and turned to Simon. "Now, where was Zoe at when you had that chat?"

* * *

Inara Serra was on her way to Sihnon, aboard a luxury cruise ship, in a stately cabin befitting a woman of her wealth and beauty. She had withdrawn a nice sum from her savings and decided to splurge, to let herself feel comfort and luxury once again. After a long bath and a glass of wine, Inara dressed in her finest clothing she had bought from Serenity, and settled down in front of the Cortex screen in her cabin. She typed in a wave number on Sihnon and waited a few moments. On screen came the face of a handsome man, about 30 years old, with dark features, brilliant blue eyes and a thick mustache. He was stunned for a moment and then anger clouded his face and he found his voice.

"Why Inara, this is a surprise," he said coldly.

"Hello, Paulo. How have you been?"

"Let us dispense with any small talk, Inara. We are long past that. I thought you dead after all these years with no contact. It has been what, more than five years since we last saw each other? I had heard you had stooped to a lowly position as a traveling Companion on a Firefly. Yet now I can see by the wave address you are traveling on a cruise ship. Fortune must have been good to you. I see you have kept your beauty despite the years and your…profession."

She smiled in the way she did when angry but trying to hide it, a smile Mal had seen many times. "Oh, Paulo, you know my profession requires a lady such as myself to maintain her beauty."

"Indeed."

"Yes. Have you taken any steps to…to rectify our situation?"

"No, I haven't. I told you years ago that it will cost you, a great deal. My parents are dead but the shame of your actions and the cost to my family can only be repaid with the sum agreed to many years ago. Are you prepared to pay it?"

"I am," Inara said and she could she the surprise on his face.

"The whole sum?"

"Yes, plus interest for the last fifteen years."

That also shocked him. "When…when can I expect this to happen?"

"In a few days I will be there, on Sihnon. Please prepare the necessary legal documents."

He was taken aback for a moment. "Why now? Why after all these years do you care so much?"

She would not tell him, knew him well enough that he would blackmail her for more money if he knew the truth. "I'm retired now, Paulo. I am an instructor with the Guild. I have sufficient savings to settle this matter and decided I do not need this reminder of my past. I'm sure you too wish to get on with your life."

"Yes. Of course. I will have the papers prepared."

"Good," said Inara within a dazzling smile. "In a few days it will all be over. We will be officially divorced."

* * *

Admiral Shin, commander of the Alliance fleet, sat in his office at fleet HQ on Londinium. He was uneasy with this whole Serenity business. He would have liked nothing better than to throw Malcolm Reynolds into a deep dark prison and force the Fryes to work for the Alliance or die. But his hands were tied and Prime Minister Blakely was calling the shots. This galled him as much as it had galled Adam Cutter, the former High Chancellor of the Alliance, now deceased, ripped to shreds at the hands of the Reavers he helped create all those years ago on Miranda.

It was a fascinating story, the fate of Miranda. Now they were trying to "cure" the Reavers, to make amends for the past mistakes. Professor Stanley Drummond's daughter, Angela, was the lone example of a "cured" Reaver so far. An expedition to the planet was in full progress, with tracking teams and non-lethal suppression equipment being used to find and capture Reavers. The initial reports looked promising. Some Reavers had been killed but many were being captured. Colonel Justin Powers was in charge and he knew how to take care of business. Reports from the fleet said he had stood up to Admiral Byrd and supported Reynolds when he took over Serenity again. Byrd would never forgive Powers but Powers was the type of man who didn't care anyway.

Now to new matters, thought Shin. A new High Chancellor to replace Cutter. Maybe they should just eliminate the position altogether. Or appoint a political lackey who would bend to the military's rule. No, Blakely would see through all that. The Constitution of the Alliance called for a separate military and police force, each to balance against the other so neither became too strong. The populace supported this. Their history books of Earth's conflicts showed that when both the police and military were under one control, dictatorships soon followed, as had happened in Italy, Germany, Russia, and many other nations in the 20th century. The only way was to submit a list of likely candidates to Parliament to have one of them approved.

The other pressing matter was the fate of the students who had graduated from the academy on Athenian Island. River Tam's classmates they were, assassins all, according to the reports. Shin had heard rumors and had found a source in the Prime Minister's office. The reports had been fascinating to say the least. Cutter had built and operated a school whose sole purpose was to turn out assassins. Tam herself was now a fugitive again, escaping from a prison ship, surviving a crash landing on the third moon of Paquin and so far eluding pursuit. Where were the rest of the assassins?

Shin pressed a button on his comms console for his assistant. "Captain, get me General MacCready, the Prime Minister's military liaison."

After a few minutes MacCready was on the line. "How can I help you Admiral?"

"This school on Athenian Island. I've read the reports. What is being done about the students who have graduated?"

"Admiral, this is not a matter for the fleet to be involved in."

"General, I know you enjoy a certain position of trust with the Prime Minister, but remember that she is a politician and may very well be out of an office come next election. You and I however, are military men and will still be here when she is gone. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Admiral. However, I am under strict instructions not to discuss this matter."

"One of these former 'students' of Cutter's has gone rogue. We need to bring in the rest before there is more trouble."

"We are already working on that, Admiral."

"How, may I ask?"

"The Prime Minister…" MacCready started but Shin sharply interrupted him.

"Now you listen very carefully, General. This is a matter of state security. The Ministry of the Interior is in chaos because of Cutter's death. We do not have a replacement yet and may not for some weeks. Decisions must be made and the military will make them until the politicians get their heads out of their asses. Blakely need not know this conversation ever took place."

There was a long silence.

"General?"

After a short grunt came the reply. "All of the subjects were implanted with subliminal messages. One was to contact the Ministry of the Interior to be reassigned. Currently, 24 have checked in and have been ordered back to Londinium. From there we will return them to Athenian Island for deprogramming and then they will be returned to their parents. That is all I can tell you."

"Where on Londinium?"

Another pause. "Blackburn Mental Hospital."

"Thank you, General. I won't forget this. Good day."

Shin sat back on his chair and grinned. Now I have 24 assassins to send after one assassin, he thought. River Tam, you will not escape this time.


	2. Chapter 2

_River battles the Alliance to save her life while forces in other parts of the galaxy move toward her, some to help her, others to kill her._

**River's Run –Part 2 **

"We need a mechanic," Wash said to his wife as they inspected the outside of Serenity II at the shipyard on Ariel. It was the morning after their conversation with Simon and they decided to get out and get their new purchase ready for flight and business.

"We'll put the word out," Zoe said as she looked in disappointment at obvious signs of rust she hadn't noticed when they had bought the old Firefly the day before. "She also needs a good cleaning."

"Time for that later," said a voice and Zoe's face changed from a scowl to a broad grin as Wash and she turned in somewhat mild, but not total, disbelief.

"Sir," Zoe said with barely suppressed joy.

"Captain Washburne, I'm looking for a berth," said Mal with a hint of mirth. "I got lots of experience and don't mind taking orders."

"Who do you think you're kidding?" said Wash with a snort. "Say, Zoe, lets give him a trial run, see how long it takes before he pulls a mutiny and takes over your command. I bet it's only a day."

"I'd say an hour," Jayne added as he joined them from the cargo bay. "Couldn't stay away, huh?"

"Got the itch again," Mal confessed. "Being around Alliance types made my skin crawl."

"What'd Inara say to all this?" Zoe asked and Mal looked down and away and Zoe knew she didn't know yet. "So, when you plan on telling her?"

"She's due on Shadow in a few days. Hoping to have some things resolved before then. If it takes longer, might have to tell a few fibs."

"What things "resolved"?" Wash asked in worry.

"River," Mal said and then he started looking over the ship as Wash gave Zoe a look that said 'what the hell are we doing' and she shot him her 'shut up for now' look.

"Sir, the ship is yours. Your money paid for it," Zoe stated and Jayne let out a groan and Wash wished he hadn't gotten up this morning.

"Thanks, Zoe. I know I promised you your own ship and this is your ship. But…"

"Here it comes," said Wash with a groan.

"Gorramnit," Jayne grumbled.

Zoe shot them both evil looks. "He's got us through a lot of trouble."

"And put us in a lot of trouble, too," Jayne snarled back. "No offense, Mal."

"None taken, Jayne. Seems you have a distinct knack for getting into trouble, too. Hey, remember that time on Ariel when we had to come rescue your dumb ass when you got snatched by the Feds?"

Jayne blanched and then mumbled. "Ah, sure, Mal. We all remember that, don't we? So, you wanna be captain again. I guess no living with you unless you're captain anyways. So be it."

"Wash?" Mal said as he looked at the pilot.

"Whatever Zoe wants. It's her ship." Wash said without enthusiasm.

"Good," Mal said as he started walking toward the cargo bay ramp. "Let's get to work getting her shipshape. We got a little girl to find."

"Where at?" Zoe asked. "No one knows where she is."

"Paquin system," Mal said. "Cortex full of reports of a shootout at a spaceport on its third moon."

* * *

Mal had read those reports while he waited at their hotel, hoping they had just gone to breakfast or something when he found they weren't in their rooms. Serenity took him to Ariel a few hours earlier and it had taken Mal a while to find his ex-crewmates in the shipyard after he gave up waiting at the hotel. Kaylee told the Alliance people on board that a run to Ariel was needed to check some more calibrations of the nav system for the Frye Drive and they bought her story. As soon as they popped into orbit Mal ordered one of the pilot's to fly him in one of the shuttle's to the hotel where Simon said he had found Zoe, Wash and Jayne though a Cortex hotel search system. By law, all guests at any legit hotel had to register and were logged into a galaxy wide database that could be used to find someone. If you knew someone's Social Identity Number you could find them. Simon had everyone's in his medical files.

As soon as the pilot returned with the shuttle, Kaylee decided it was time to head to Taos. They hadn't wanted to say goodbye to Mal just yet, but they knew he was doing what had to be done and they really didn't need him anymore and River did. Simon, Jonathan, and Kaylee all walked with Mal to shuttle two before he left. Kaylee didn't shed any tears but worried on what she would say to Inara.

"I'll try and make her understand, Capt'n," Kaylee said before he got on the shuttle. "Just…what if she doesn't?"

"We'll work it out," Mal said. "Let's keep things under wraps for a few days. Maybe this will all be over before it even starts."

"You really think so?" Kaylee asked with hope and knew he didn't from his look. "Oh."

"I'll find her and then I'll find a way to make things right," Mal said to her and Simon.

"Thank you, Mal," Simon said. "Wish we could go with you."

"No," Mal said sternly. "Don't get any foolish heroic notions. You two…you got a shot at real happiness, a real future."

"So do you!" Kaylee said as she realized finally what was eating him. "Capt'n…Inara loves you! She'll do anything for you! You have a future also!"

"I know," he said in somewhat embarrassment. "Just…something in my gut tells me…it ain't time for settling down yet. And until I'm really ready, I can't be asking her to do something she'll regret later."

"She won't regret anything!" Kaylee said in despair.

"I gotta go, Little Kaylee," Mal said, trying to ignore the topic of Inara anymore, painful as it was. He looked to Kaylee's father and looked him straight in the eye. "Jonathan, you keep these two on Taos. I'm counting on you."

"Got my word, Mal," the big man said as they shook hands and then Mal was gone.

A short time later they went into an upper atmo orbit and the shuttle returned. After that they made the jump to Taos and as they prepared to land Kaylee finally voiced what she was thinking to Simon as they strapped into the dining room lounge chairs. "He thinks he doesn't deserve happiness."

Simon grasped what she was saying but not why. "Because he did something so terrible?"

"Maybe," Kaylee said. "Maybe he just can't accept the notion that the fight isn't over yet. He's got a big hole in his heart and soul. Only Inara can fill it. I wish she was here!"

The landing went smoothly and soon Serenity was at the small spaceport of New Shanghai where it had blasted off in such hurry just a few weeks ago. As they left the ship with their Alliance guards and crew, a reception committee of many local people and Alliance personal and dignitaries was waiting for them, much to their surprise. As Kaylee, Simon, and Jonathan came down the ramp a band broke into the Alliance national anthem and a local high school chorus broke into song. Everyone snapped to attention and even though there were a few boos from the crowd, most joined in the song.

As they stood still as the anthem was being played and sung, Simon whispered to Kaylee. "This was all supposed to be a secret!"

"Looks like someone opened their big mouth," Kaylee whispered back.

"Ah, my fault," said Jonathan. "I waved Mary and the factory and…I guess word got out you were coming home."

After the song was over a pompous, officious looking little man in a suit and top hat with a blue, yellow, and white sash across his chest, ran up the ramp straight to Kaylee and shook her hand. "My word, my word, a celebrity right here in out little town. Welcome home Miss Frye, welcome home!"

Kaylee recognized him as the local magistrate, a man who had once tried to get her father to pay kickbacks to keep his factory opened. He held up her hand and the crowd cheered and clapped and Kaylee turned red with embarrassment.

The Alliance officer in charge stepped in at that moment. "Look here, mister whoever you are. This ceremony is over, so send these people home."

The little official seemed as if someone was usurping his territory. "But, but, there's a banquet and speeches and the reporters, they all want to talk to Miss Frye…"

"Mrs. Frye," Kaylee corrected him as she took Simon's arm.

"Yes, why yes, the happy married couple," said the official and then he turned back to the officer. "It's all been arranged! We plan on giving tours of the ship and the new marvelous engine!"

"The hell you are! Cancel it! All of it!" yelled the officer, his voice a little loud in the suddenly quiet spaceport. People began to whisper and Kaylee decided she had to do something.

"Ah, hi, everyone," she began and got no further as they all yelled and screamed her name. After a few moments they calmed down and Kaylee began again, squeezing Simon's hand for courage. "Thanks for such a warm…homecoming. I know you all think I did something wonderful…but truth is….it ain't no big deal." Now they were puzzled. What was she talking about, not a big deal? "In fact, those things you saw on the Cortex, all that, well, it's just a big pile of nothing. I didn't do anything. I'm sorry you all came out here. I ain't no hero."

The crowd was stunned for a few moments and then one small boy shouted out. "Didn't you make the super engine?" and everyone waited while Kaylee tried to answer. Simon could sense her struggling and knew she didn't want to lie so he stepped in.

"My wife…" and he got no further as more cheers rang out and congratulations came from the crowd. "Thank you. As my wife….was saying, she, we didn't do anything special…yet. Yes, Kaylee has some part in those plans you may have seen and some of the reports are true…but the engine…it isn't perfect and doesn't work…yet."

More quiet and then someone, an old fat man yelled out. "We want to see the engine!" and more bedlam broke out as people pushed and jostled each other and some started up the ramp. The Alliance officer pulled his pistol and fired into the air and that got everyone's attention.

"Step back!" he yelled. "This ship is property of the Alliance and no unauthorized personnel will be allowed on board. Is that clear?"

Silence and dirty looks from the crowd but they got the point.

"Good," said the officer, a little calmer. "Now please, go home." Slowly they began to disperse, grumbling and with some shouting curses at the Alliance.

"But, but, the food and…" said the official.

"You, too," said the officer to the little official.

"I'll, I'll…I know people!" he shouted.

"Good. Tell them Prime Minister Blakely and Admiral Shin have given me full authority here."

The little man opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again and then just turned and left in a huff. Suddenly though the crowd came a little blond woman in her forties. One of the soldiers was about the stop her when Jonathan yelled at him.

"Hands off, sonny boy. That's my Mary."

"Oh Jonathan," said cried as she threw herself into his arms. "Oh, God, it's so good to see you!"

"It's alright," he said. "I'm home now."

"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," she said to Kaylee. "I told someone and they told someone and it just got out of hand."

Kaylee smiled. "It's OK. It would have happened anyways."

"Come," Mary said to Simon and Kaylee. "Home is waiting for you."

Kaylee looked at Serenity and the officer assured her. "Don't worry. No one will touch a thing." And then he snapped orders and four guards began to follow them as they walked to the Frye home.

"People are looking at me," Kaylee said as they made their way home with their Alliance escort. She was scared and very nervous. Everyone was staring at them.

"It's going to be fine," Simon said, smiling and nodding to the people. "I think they believed me."

"It doesn't matter," she said in a sad voice. "Nothing will ever be the same again." And Simon had no answer to that because he knew it was perfectly true.

At home many cousins and aunts and uncles and some of Kaylee's friends from school were waiting with a big party. Simon wanted to chase them all away but Kaylee told him no and put on a brave face and smiled and for a few hours everyone got caught up, Kaylee proud to introduce her doctor husband to everyone. She told them how they had met on Serenity, and mentioned how he and his sister were passengers, but left out all of the stuff about River and the academy and that the Alliance had been chasing them and especially about the part where she was still a fugitive. Kaylee and Simon knew that not all the stories could be told, that some wouldn't be believed since they scarcely believed them themselves, especially not about Reavers and Miranda and their role in Adam Cutter's demise and most definitely not the real reason for the missing four years. And nothing was said about the engine, even though almost everyone was dying to ask. Jonathan told them all about being arrested because of what happened at the spaceport that other time and his leg wounds were from an accident on a ship, not a missile explosion and they mostly believed him, but not totally. They knew that some things needed to be left unsaid and the Fryes were the type of people who understood and knew in due time most of the answers would come

Long hours later after they finished a nice meal and everyone had gone home Simon logged onto the Cortex screen in the Frye home. There was a brief message from Mal telling how he had found the others and they were in the process of preparing a new Firefly for a voyage to Paquin. Why Paquin? Then Simon put two and two together and started searching for any news from Paquin. Soon an item caught his eye. Shootout in a spaceport on the third moon of Paquin. Three dead, seven injured, all Alliance personnel. An escaped female fugitive was to blame: River Tam.

* * *

The rain pounded on the windshield of the small shuttle as the scared pilot flew River across the landscape of the third moon of Paquin. River stood behind her in the narrow cockpit, the pistol held in her hand, keeping an eye on the navigation screen in front of the control column. River had found more weapons on board the shuttle, including a fire and forget rocket launcher and several hand grenades, flash grenades, and smoke grenades. She quickly added some to her backpack.

"Nest, this is the Saratoga. Contact, over," came a voice from the comms.

"Shut it off," River said.

"It's the Saratoga," the pilot said. "If I don't answer…"

"Shut it off," River said slightly more sternly and the pilot reached over and switched off all comms. "And the tracker."

"I can't do that," the pilot answered. "They are built into the structure of the vessel internally and can't be disabled."

River knew she was telling the truth, knew quite a lot about her just from her thoughts.

"What's your name?" River asked casually, one thing she didn't know since not many people actually think about their own name.

"Pilot Officer Flowers," the pilot answered in a stammer.

"No, what's your name?" River asked again and this time the pilot understood.

"Janice," she said.

"OK, Janice, this is what we are going to do," River began and then explained it all to the pilot.

* * *

The ground search team boarded a new shuttle at the farm an hour after they had picked up Patterson and discovered River Tam had hijacked their original shuttle. After no contact for thirty minutes the Saratoga had sent a new shuttle and when they were in radio range the lieutenant with the search team contacted them and told what had happened.

"Where is it?" he asked as soon as he and his team were on board. They were soaked and tired and in a foul mood. They had left Patterson with the farmers and the team medic to be picked up by a med shuttle which was already descending from the Saratoga.

"At Port Wilson, twenty kilometers away," the pilot answered.

"Head there, now," the lieutenant commanded.

* * *

Port Wilson wasn't big by spaceport standards. It had only five docking bays, a large shipping warehouse, and a few small buildings for maintenance crews and the one lonely Alliance civilian employee who was in charge. Nearby were some bars and small hotel and a few shops. At present only two ships were docked, both short range transports which hauled farm produced from the moon to Paquin and brought supplies the farmers needed.

The Alliance official in charge of the place had just taken payment for landing rights from the crew of the second transport and told them there would be no cargo loaded or unload until the rain stopped. The captain grumbled and he and his crew headed off to the local bar to join the crew of another ship which had landed just a short time ago.

As he finished entering the details of the two ships in his computer console at a desk behind a counter, the door opened and two people entered, one of them a bedraggled looking figure in a green shirt and skirt, her long dark hair soaked from the rain. She had a look a fear in her eyes. The second figure was an Alliance soldier, a pilot by the looks of her uniform and helmet and she held a pistol on the first woman.

"What have we here?" asked the official with slight concern and also interest. He was lonely and had no companionship for some time and here two very wet very lovely looking ladies had just come into his life.

"Prisoner, tried to hijack my ship," said the pilot. "I need to contact my cruiser, tell them where I am."

"Prisoner, eh?" said the official with a smirk. "What did such a little girl do to get into such a big pile of trouble?"

"Nothing!" said the girl.

Click, went the pilot's pistol. "What did I say about talking?" Silence. "She's a killer, murdered five troops on a prison barge and escaped."

"That a fact," said the official not quite believing such a little girl could kill anyone. "Well, comms console is right here." He pointed to a cabinet behind the desk which he opened, revealing a high powered comms system, powerful enough to reach the Saratoga and maybe even Paquin. "Perhaps you ladies would like to change clothes and dry off a while."

"No, thank you," said the pilot and then she fired three quick shots into the console and smashed it to pieces with a showering of broken metal and sparks.

"What the hell!" yelled the official and then said no more as the pistol was in his face.

"I'm the pilot," said the girl in the green clothes. "She's the…killer."

River removed the pilot's helmet from her head and placed it on the counter.

"Now," she said to the official. "Do you have any rope?"

"No," said the official. "But I have…" He said no more as River fired a bullet through his head and he dropped and flopped for a few seconds as blood squirted from his head and then he was still.

Janice Flowers was too stunned to do anything, just stared at this wisp of a girl who was so ruthless. "Why?" she finally managed to get out in a croak.

"He has a gun," River said as she moved behind the counter.

"No, he…" Janice was about to say but then she saw River remove a pistol from the man's hand and tuck it into her uniform belt.

"It was hidden behind the counter and he was going to kill me," River explained.

"How…how did you know?"

"I just know," River said matter-of-factly as she keyed into the computer console. "And I'll know if you try to run, like you are thinking about right now."

Janice had been planning to run and stopped just on the edge of doing so, staring wide eyed at this girl, wondering who in the hell she was.

"River Tam," River said and Janice was too flabbergasted to reply. Had she…read my mind?

"Yes, I did," said River from the computer stations and Janice knew she was in the presence of a unique person.

"What…what…now?" she asked.

"We take a ship," River told her. "And leave here."

"We?"

"Yes, we. You are my hostage."

"I…have a husband…and a son…and…"

River stared at her for second and Janice knew she knew she was lying. "I'm sorry…I won't do that again."

"Good," River replied. "Now, which ship would you like?"

"I have a choice?"

"Yes. And then we disable the other and its comms systems. Both crews are probable getting drunk nearby."

"How do you know? I mean…you can…?"

"I know because I know cargo crews and that's what they like to do. I lived on a Firefly for more than a year."

"The other soldiers…they will look for me."

"Yes, and I hope they find us."

* * *

They found them alright. The hijacked shuttle was sitting in a small open space near the buildings as the second shuttle came into Port Williams. After landing nearby, the search team disembarked into the pouring rain, pissed off at their discomfort and the merry chase they were being led on. With hand signals, the lieutenant led his team to the shuttle. They formed a semi-circle around the door and the lieutenant pointed for one of his men to open the door. As the soldier moved in and slowly opened the external door, the others readied their weapons. Then with a flash and a deafening bang the shuttle's door blew off, throwing the soldiers backwards with terrific force, and some of them were hit with flying shrapnel as well. As the rest of the squad moved to help their injured comrades, there was a _whoosh_ and then a second deafening bang came, this time from their second shuttle, which caught fire as the pilot came stumbling out into the pouring rain, his uniform smoldering from flames which were quickly doused.

"Find her!" the lieutenant yelled and it was the last thing he ever said as a bullet entered the top of his head and he dropped to the ground without a sound. The standing squad members turned around in all directions, looking for their target in the murky visibility. In milliseconds two more were down from bullets and the rest panicked, now leaderless, and began to shoot in all directions, hitting buildings, spaceships, everything except River. In moments they were all down, not all dead, but down.

River slowly leaped down from the top of the warehouse from where she had launched the rocket at the second shuttle and had shot the soldiers. As she walked past the second shuttle's pilot lying on the ground he moaned and she kicked him in the head to keep him quiet. She took a grenade and tossed it inside the shuttle cockpit to make sure it's comm systems were destroyed. As it exploded she moved to the rest of the squad, some dead, others groaning. One reached for his weapon and River kicked it away and then pressed her pistol to his head.

"No time to be a hero," she said and the young man's eyes were filled with terror and pain, fearing she was going to execute him but she didn't to his relief.

River collected all weapons, threw them in the first shuttle and tossed in another grenade. As it exploded and the shuttle's fuel supply and the ammo began to go off, those on the ground who could crawled away.

River moved inside the Alliance building and out of the pouring rain. Janice Flowers and the dead man in an Alliance civilian official's uniform were behind the counter. He was lying in a pool of blood by his head. She was tied up and gagged, feet and hands tied together behind her back so she couldn't walk. Flowers hadn't dared move, believing River would know in an instant and kill her. Nearby was the comms station smashed and full of bullet holes. River bent to Flowers and took off her gag and began to untie her feet.

"Time to go," River said as she picked Janice up, quickly retied her hands in front her and took her to the door. As they were about to exit into the pouring rain suddenly River stopped.

"People are outside," she said. "The crew from one of the ships."

"Just give up," Janice told her in exasperation and near tears. "Are you going to kill everyone?"

"If they get in my way."

"What did you do?" Janice asked in a choking voice, ready to cry. "Why is all this happening to me?"

"My life was stolen from me by the Alliance," River said. "I tried to take it back but they wouldn't let me."

And without another word River opened the door and quickly moved off with Janice toward the nearest ship, the one they had selected earlier. It was smaller than a Firefly, a Hornet class short haul cargo carrier. River had overridden the port controls and had the cargo ramp opened. Just as they reached the foot of the ramp a male voice yelled to them.

"Hey! What the gorramn hell is going on here?"

"Get on board," River said to Janice and pushed her up the ramp and Janice was glad to get away from her and be dry and especially to avoid seeing anymore violence.

The man walked steadily toward River. Behind him in the pouring rain more people were bending to help the injured Alliance troopers and the two shuttles were burning despite the rain. River was still in the pilot's uniform with the helmet on as the man approached her. He hesitated, not sure what was happening, but one thing he knew was that someone had somehow gotten his ship opened and was trying to board it.

"Hey, I'm talking to you," the man said as he pulled a pistol and came right up to River. "Your people are hurt. And this is my ship! How did you get…"

He said no more as River kicked away his gun and dropped him to the ground with more swift blows. "They aren't my people," she said and as she turned to enter the ship bullets whizzed past her and the rest of his crew came running and shooting at her. She ignored them and ran up the ramp and closed it. Then she noticed Janice was missing.

River had no time to search for her, knew she was on board somewhere and headed straight for the bridge. There sat Janice Flowers, in the pilot's seat, holding out her tied hands to River.

"I fly better with these free."

River almost grinned and pulled out her knife and cut the bonds. In a few seconds Janice had the engines started and they were soon airborne, heading for the black of space.

* * *

"Ship taking off from Port Williams, sir," said a radar operator on the bridge of the Saratoga.

"Class and transponder code," the captain demanded.

"Hornet class, short range cargo hauler. Transponder coming up…named Katya."

"Check it," the captain ordered and after a few minutes got his reply.

"No warrants, nothing. It's a legit carrier. Seems to be heading to Paquin."

"Let it go," the captain ordered. "And get that green lieutenant on the comms so I can tear him a new asshole for not checking in on time!"

* * *

The green lieutenant was dead as were one of his men and the Alliance official. The crews from the two cargo ships soon realized the second ship was disabled and gave up the idea of chasing the Katya,.They started caring for the wounded Alliance people, taking them inside the warehouse. Most of the wounds were in the arms and legs, as if the shooter was not trying to intentional kill them. More people came, from nearby businesses, and soon they figured out what happened.

"We got no comms?" a wounded solider asked the captain of the ship River had stolen. The captain was soaking wet, had a black eye and a bruised ego, but was otherwise unharmed.

"They took the Katya and disabled the other ships engine and its comms," he said sheepishly.

"I have a Cortex screen in the hotel," the owner said. "But who do I send a message to? Do you know the cruiser's wave address?"

The soldier was stumped. "We…we use radio comms…not Cortex. Just send…send a message to…Paquin. Pick anyone you know. Tell them to contact any Alliance post and they can contact the Saratoga."

And so the hotel owner scurried off to try to get help and within minutes had sent a message off to Paquin, which he sent to his cousin, who owned a Cortex news station, who passed on this news of a shoot out to the nearby Alliance station, but not before he had the story written up and sent out on the Cortex, getting good prices from re-write rights from the major news services. Before the Saratoga even knew its troops were in trouble on the ground, most of the galaxy news services were already sending out the buzz across the Cortex.

* * *

On Londinium Admiral Shin had received the news of the shoot out and the escape of River Tam once again just before he left his office for Blackburn Mental Hospital. He sent out orders to have that cargo ship stopped and searched when it reached Paquin and then went down to his waiting car. As they drove to the hospital he opened his car's computer screen and began to review the records that General MacCready had just sent him the four Athenian Island subjects who had reported in so far. MacCready had seen the light and knew what Shin had said about Blakely was true. He had sent Shin all documents on Athenian Island and the names of the twenty-four assassins who had checked in and their expected arrival times on Londinium.

The four who had recently arrived were all around Tam's age and had similar backgrounds, coming from well-do-to families in the Core. Each had shown remarkable skills in their earlier years and had been selected by Dr. Mathis and Cutter for training on Athenian Island. The cover story of an advance academy had fooled all their parents. Some had made inquiries but all were mollified with the story that their children had graduated and were now in an advance research project that could not be disclosed due to its sensitive nature. All had written letters to this effect to their parents and fake photos were taken of the children at the secret graduation ceremony from the 'academy'.

Of course, River Tam had been the exception and her brother had done what was thought impossible. Now he was pardoned but his sister was still out there and Shin was now suspecting that his soldiers had no business chasing such a dangerous person, not after what had just happened in the Paquin system.

Tam's file was in his hands now and he knew she was a psychic, something the Prime Minister surely knew but kept from him. Until they choose Cutter's successor, Shin would continue the search for Tam. She knew too much, knew about Cutter's death and the Reavers and all that sorry, miserable tale. And no one knew what else Tam knew, what she had learned from Cutter.

Shin and his escort walked through the quiet halls of Blackburn Mental Hospital. It had been built during the war as a place of refuge for those soldiers who had suffered mental breakdowns in battle. The place was full following the massive battles at the end of the war, especially after Serenity Valley on Hera. Now it was mostly empty, the few patients remaining were those too chronic or too dangerous to release to the public.

The four were waiting for Shin. They sat in a conference room at a long table. They were two males and two females and Shin got right to the point.

"Cutter is dead and now I am in charge. You don't need to know my name. Just follow my orders."

He slid a photo of River across the table. One of the males picked it up. "Tam."

"Correct. River Tam is a former classmate of yours. She has gone rogue and is now operating on a free lance basis. She has killed at least eight Alliance personnel in recent days. Find her, bring her in or kill her, it is up to you. She was last seen near Paquin. Transport awaits you. You will be taken to a military airfield and receive further instructions on new comms systems and more details on Tam as we get them. Report in every day at 1 PM Londinium capital city time, to me personally. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," they said as one.

"Good," Shin said. "And don't come back until the job is done." With that he got up, turned to the door and was gone.

Now, Tam, let's see how you do against your old classmates, Shin thought as he walked away.

Little did Shin know that River had already faced one her old classmates, Maston Forbes, and had bested him. And River wouldn't be alone. Not for long anyways.

* * *

On Sihnon, Paulo Chase sat in his office in his family's mansion and was disturbed by the news that his bride Inara Serra was returning after all these years and now wanted a divorce. The money would be welcomed but there were too many unanswered questions. Why now? What had happened? She said she had enough money, that she was retired and working as an instructor. That was a lie and now he knew it for sure.

Paulo had connections, his family one of the original families from Earth to settle on Londinium and then Sihnon. They were an old and proud family and the Serra business had cast a stain that was never quite erased. With his parents dead Paulo was in charge. The Companion Guild headquarters was on Sihnon and he requested an audience with the headmistress, which was quickly granted.

"Mr. Chase, how good to see you. You family is well, I trust," the headmistress said as Paulo was lead into her luxurious office and sat down opposite her at a heavily ornate wooded desk. The Companion Guild was rumored to be even wealthier than the Blue Sun Corporation, the largest conglomerate in the galaxy. She was in a peach gown, heavily jeweled, with graying blond hair in a bun, her age a Guild secret.

"Yes, mistress. I have come on the matter of…my wife."

"Oh, of course. She has contacted you."

"You don't seem surprised," Paulo said. "It has been five years since anyone has seen her."

"She contacted us recently."

"You mean she isn't working for the Guild anymore?"

The headmistress was silent for a moment, knowing something was going on that she did not know about. "I cannot discuss the inner workings of the Guild, as you well know."

"She is my wife!" Paulo said with rising anger.

The headmistress glared at him across her ornate desk with steely eyes. "A wife who never shared your bed, a wife your family and hers choose before she was ten years old, a wife whose family was ruined by yours!"

"Because she refused my hand!"

"After what happened to her father she had no choice!"

"She was stubborn and proud and now look at her, nothing but a common…."

"Don't you dare say that word in this house! You will be blacklisted from here to the Rim if such a word passes your lips!"

Paulo held his tongue and then said more calmly. "I am the laughing stock of Sihnon because of her. Fifteen years! I cannot enter a room without someone staring and asking, 'Is that him? The man whose wife is now a Companion?' Oh they are quiet, but I know these snobs, know what they think. My family has suffered this indignity far too long. I will have my justice."

"That is up to Inara," the headmistress said more calmly.

"She has agreed to repay the bride price plus interest," Paulo finally said.

The headmistress smiled. "Excellent. Then this matter will be at an end. You will divorce and your reputation will be restored and you can marry and begin a family."

He was silent and she knew something wasn't right. "Paulo, this is what you want, isn't it?"

"Yes…but why now, why after so long? She…must be in love, must have another man she wants to marry."

"Perhaps but why do you…oh, I see. You still love her," the headmistress said.

"Yes," he barely managed to mumble. "I thought I had forgotten her, had moved on…but when I saw her…I can't help myself. She is coming, will be here in two days. Then…I don't know what I will do." The headmistress came around her desk and stood next to him and pressed his head into her bosom and held him.

"Poor Paulo…how can we help ease your pain? Christine? Julie? Both?"

"Both," he said in a bare whisper and the mistress rang a bell and an assistant came and took Paulo to the upper rooms of the Guild building. The most talented and beautiful of the Companions were here and Christine and Julie could have passed for sisters of Inara, so alike in appearance they were, raven haired beauties both. In their arms he imagined it was Inara, the honeymoon that never was.

The headmistress knew he was still in love with Inara, had known for years, for he always choose Christine or Julie when he came here. It was a tragic story, well known on Sihnon among the elite families. As she thought back on the story, the headmistress contacted her secretary.

"Check all cruise ship passenger tables en-route to Sihnon. Please find out if Inara Serra is a passenger on any ship."

Now, Inara, are you really in love with someone else? If so, I hope he knows what he is in for. A child in the arms of a woman, Paulo Chase was a different person among men. He was no longer so rich and so powerful, but he was quick tempered and ruthless in a duel and the few men who had dared to openly insult him about Inara in the early years had died at his hands. Only a real man could hope to steal Inara away from him. By the sounds of things, Paulo would not give her the divorce so easily. The headmistress feared blood would be shed before all this was over.


	3. Chapter 3

_Mal and the gang run into a little trouble and they need their old friends to bail them out. Meanwhile, River makes plans and Inara comes face to face with her past._

**River's Run – Part 3 **

Inara Serra packed the last of her belongings in her suitcases in the cabin on the luxury cruiser as it prepared to lock on and disembark passengers at a space station high above Sihnon. The cruiser was too big for atmo entry, much like the Alliance heavy cruisers, and needed to load and unload passengers, crew, and cargo at this station. From there the passengers received free shuttle rides to anywhere on the planet, all courtesy of the cruise line company.

Inara sat in front of her cabin's Cortex screen and prepared to do what she had dreaded doing for the last few days, putting it off until the last minute. Secrets destroy lives, that much she knew from hard personal experience. She had to tell Mal what was going on, not only for her peace of mind but because he had a right to know. He wasn't her husband and maybe never would be, but this thing hanging over her head was too much to bear if it could appear one day and destroy whatever life and happiness she and Mal had managed to find on Shadow.

Inara quickly typed in the Cortex address for Serenity. An Alliance officer answered and after some initial confusion he told her that they were on Taos and Kaylee and Simon were at her father's home. She said her thanks and immediately sent a second wave. She waited and waited but no one answered and she was about to give up when a disheveled looking Kaylee in a green and purple nightdress answered. The bleary eyed young woman's grumpy look turned into a bright sunny smile as she realized who was waving.

"Inara! Oh, gosh it's good to see you!" Kaylee said enthusiastically and then there was a hint of fear in her eyes and Inara knew something wasn't right.

"Hi Kaylee. Sorry. Looks like I got you in the morning."

"It's all right. Time to get up anyways."

"How are things?"

"Oh, ship's OK, just we're here at my daddy's home for now trying to settle in. We're gonna use Taos as a base to work on the engine and get it ready for factory production and all that."

"Oh, that's good to hear." Inara waited for her to mention Mal and it seemed like Kaylee waited for her to mention him first and then suddenly they were both speaking at the same time.

"Where is …." Inara began as Kaylee said. "He ain't here."

"Oh," Inara said with slight surprise. "I guess he is already on Shadow."

Silence and Kaylee squirmed under her gaze. "Not on Shadow?"

"Not exactly. Oh, Inara, he…we dropped him off on Ariel."

"What? I just left there three days ago, after Zoe got a new…oh no. He's not!"

"It's River," Kaylee said sheepishly. "They know where she is now and he…he said to tell you sorry!"

Inara was getting steamed now. "He promised me! That…that…man!"

Kaylee nodded. "Yeah, bunch of lunkheads at times, ain't they?"

"I just knew this would happen! He can't stay still for one day! Rancher! That's a laugh!"

"Oh Inara, don't be so mad!" Kaylee said, very wide awake now and remembering her promise to the Capt'n. "He's doing it for a good reason. I mean, River is out there all alone."

"I know, Kaylee, but…but…" Inara said and she couldn't finish her thoughts. She took a deep breath and she was starting to calm down a little but she was still hurt by his actions. "He promised me, Kaylee. No more."

"It's gonna be alright," Kaylee said soothingly. "He'll be with Zoe and Jayne and Wash and be just like old times."

"Except you won't be there to fix the ship if something goes wrong and Simon won't be there in case…in case..." But Inara couldn't say it.

"Yeah," Kaylee replied in a worried tone. "Don't think on that."

"He just got pardoned," Inara answered feeling angry again. "All of them did! And now they are going to throw it all away!?"

"For River," said Kaylee. "River's in trouble."

"I'm sorry, Kaylee, I know she's Simon's sister but Mal…Mal…I can't lose him!"

"You don't dwell on that and rub your Buddha's belly and think positive things and I'll put in the word with the Lord when I go to church on Sunday."

Inara was silent for a long moment and realized there was nothing she could do but what Kaylee said. She took another deep breath, calmed herself and spoke. "Kaylee, you get word to him. Tell him…tell him…I understand why he's doing it. And I…forgive him."

"Be better he hears that from you himself," Kaylee said.

"Tell him to wave me at the Companion Guild Headquarters on Sihnon."

"Are you there yet?" Kaylee asked as she keyed into the screen's memory the wave address Inara told her.

"Soon. I have some things to take care of there and then…I don't know what. I was supposed to meet Mal on Shadow, but now I don't know."

"You'll know when you talk to him. Inara, he loves you, I know he does. Just…he ain't the type of man you corral into settling down so easy."

"Is Simon?"

"Appears to be. Him and space never got along anyways."

"I'm glad for you Kaylee. And I expect a wedding invitation real soon."

"Not without River being here and being free," Kaylee said with determination and Inara was a bit puzzled.

"Kaylee, for that to happen…it seems very unlikely."

"Maybe, but Simon and I talked on it and he say he can't face his parents till he knows she's safe."

"I guess I understand him."

"What about you and the Capt'n?" Kaylee asked with a hint of mischief in her look and tone. "Any hint of a proposal?"

"Kaylee! We've just started a relationship."

"Jeeze, so have Simon and I and you've known the Capt'n longer than I've known Simon."

"He'll have to ask me first," Inara said, a bit forlorn.

Kaylee smiled. "He will. You just watch!"

Inara smiled back, a bit forced. "It's so nice to hear your optimism again. Now we are about to disembark, Kaylee. I must go. Bye."

"Bye. See you soon I hope." And after a few more quick remarks Inara was gone.

"Mal's in trouble," Simon said in a sing song voice as he sat on the sofa, out of shot of the living room Cortex screen. He was sipping a cup of coffee and handed another one to his wife as she sat down with him.

"Yeah," said Kaylee as she sat back, smelling the rich flavor of the coffee. "That's just where he likes to be. He loves trouble."

* * *

"I hate trouble," Mal said as he cursed for the hundredth time since joining Zoe's new ship. He was on the bridge sitting next to Wash, looking at a radar screen and pointing out incoming missiles to his pilot. "Another one, starboard!" Mal shouted as Wash threw the ship into a steep left handed turn.

"Gorramn it!" Mal cursed as the missile streaked by them and slammed with a shuddering blast into a cliff wall of the valley they were in. "That was too close."

"They ain't using seekers," Jayne shouted from where he stood and braced himself in the doorway. "We'd be finished by now if they did! That's the third one and they all missed!"

"They want the ship," Zoe said from the third bridge chair. "I knew I shoulda picked another name!"

All the trouble had begun earlier in the day. They had gotten the ship ready for lift off, fixing some minor problems over the last day, loading up supplies and food and stowing their gear on board, including four spacesuits, extra guns and ammo. Serenity II also had two shuttles and Mal and Jayne fitted out each with food, water, guns and ammo. Jayne thought he was being silly but Mal was trying to be extra cautious now that he had something worth living for.

Serenity II was not Serenity. The bunks were not as homey yet and the kitchen lacked many things and had a smaller refrigeration space. Wash found a wooden dining table and some chairs but it wasn't the same and there were no flowers painted on the walls of the dining room. As Mal inspected the engine with the shipyard mechanic the first thing he noticed was the lack of a hammock in the corner and that made him more than a little sad.

The shipyard mechanic had given Serenity II the once over and said it had no major problems and the ship had been inspected just the month before. All the paper work was in order and they were certified ready to fly. Except Mal had an uneasy feeling in his gut. He never flew without a mechanic before. They had put the word out but anyone worth his or her salt wouldn't fly on an old Firefly. Also, Mal really didn't want to hire just anyone. The nature of their voyage, possibly getting into a scuffle with the Alliance again, was something a stranger might not take too kindly to.

"I want Kaylee," Mal suddenly said to Zoe as they stood in the engine room after the mechanic had left.

Zoe sighed. "Can't have her, sir. She's where she belongs. Deal was made for her to work with the Alliance."

"I'm thinking about breaking that deal."

"No," Zoe said sternly. "Let her and Simon be. He hired us to find his sister and that's what we'll do. Don't mean we need to start slinging lead at Alliance types again."

Mal had to grin at that one. "Might be fun though."

"Sir, have you had your head examined lately?" Zoe asked in mock seriousness.

"I'm sure more than a few docs would certify me as crazy," Mal said as they left the engine room. Zoe stopped and looked at him.

"Crazy for not telling Inara. You have to tell her something."

He nodded. "Yeah, guess she'll be heading to Shadow soon. I'll send her a wave while we make our way to Paquin. Not looking forward to that."

But they never even made it out of the Ariel system. Three hours after take off, while Wash was still doing a shakedown run on the ship's systems, they were suddenly attacked. It was only then they discovered that their radar wasn't worth a damn, there was no missile lock warning system, and they had no way of knowing that a ship was stalking them.

The first missile flew over the front of the ship and exploded with a flash and the whole ship shook. In seconds they were all on the bridge.

"Alliance?" Jayne yelled.

"No way," Wash said in his usual calm way when piloting had to be done. "And they won't answer my hails." Then Mal picked up the image of a large vessel in the rearward facing vid screens.

"Looks like a Whistler, class 3," Mal said. "Deep space salvage vessel. Ship's got missile racks and it looks like an EMP mount."

"Where to?" Wash yelled as a second missile whizzed by, again barely missing them and exploding to the front.

"There!" Mal yelled and Wash headed down to a small moon, and by the looks of it, it had no atmo or life. "The canyons, valleys, out run him!"

But running didn't work. Soon after the third missile missed them the EMP found the range. In a sizzling crackling burst of energy the whole ship shuddered and shook and went out of control.

"Brace for impact!" Wash yelled as he made a barely controlled crash landing in a crater the size of a small lake. Serenity II came to a halt in cloud of dust. Suddenly there was silence on the bridge.

"Wash, get me some power and comms," Mal calmly ordered. "Jayne, Zoe, get your guns and head to the cargo bay. Might want to suit up also. Don't think this place got any atmo. Seal off the lower deck. You kill anything that tries to board us."

"With pleasure," Jayne said with a grin and in seconds he and Zoe were gone.

"Minimal power," Wash said. 'Enough for comms. You want to surrender?"

"They ain't going to let us surrender, Wash. You remember my wife?"

"Saffron? Sure. You mean….oh shit."

"Yeah. They'll fry us some more or gas us or whatever. Long as we dead they don't care. Zoe's right. They want the ship."

"Why? It's just an old Firefly?"

"The name on the transponder," Mal said. "Bet they got some Alliance equipment that let's them read transponders."

"Oh cripes. You want to beg for our lives?"

"No. Wave, high burst so they can't read it."

Wash hit buttons and then turned to Mal. "Who to?"

"Kaylee."

* * *

Down in the cargo bay Jayne and Zoe prepared some crates for cover and then started to suit up.

"Ship's landing behind us," came Mal's voice over the intercom. At least we have some systems back, Zoe thought as she ran to the intercom.

"Can we take off, sir?"

"Your husband is working on it," Mal replied. "We got visitors. Count four…five…six of them, all suited up and armed. Be right there."

Just as Mal arrived Zoe finished getting Jayne in his suit and started putting on hers. As Mal reached for another suit in the locker where they kept them there was a knocking at the airlock door. After a few seconds came a male voice through their comms system and it wasn't Wash.

"Surrender and we'll let you live."

"How in the hell they talking to us?" Jayne asked nervously as he gripped Vera in one hand, a grenade in the other.

"Impulse sound wave," said Mal as he walked to the intercom, still putting on his suit top as he walked. "Seeks out a sound device on a ship and allows you to set up a make shift comm."

"Ah, hi," said Mal as he pressed the talk button. "You all mind telling us what this is all about?"

"You Malcolm Reynolds?"

That was a surprise. "Could be. Who's asking?"

"Oh, I ain't anyone special. Just heard Malcolm Reynolds was captain of a Firefly called Serenity. This is a Firefly called Serenity so I figured out the rest. Now give us the ship and we'll set you all down back on Ariel in a nice out of the way place."

"Well, I ain't one to burst people's bubbles," Mal said in a light-hearted way. "But we just bought this ship and ain't even made our first cargo run yet, so the hold is a might empty right now."

"Ain't here for the cargo. Here for that Frye drive you all got."

Zoe cursed. "I knew it. Gorramnit, damn fools think were Serenity."

Mal laughed at the stupidity of it all. "Frye drive? No, you got the wrong ship mister. If we had one of them new Frye drives you think we'd stand still and let you shoot us down when we coulda run away?"

There was a long silence. "Transponder name says Serenity."

"Serenity II," Mal said and then they heard a groan. "Alliance got the original."

"Don't care. I'll take the ship anyways. Must be worth something."

"Not much if it's full of holes and you can't fly it off this rock."

"We's coming on in if you ain't coming out. Now I can put few holes in this airlock and pump in some gas or you can open it and surrender and that'll be the end. We take the ship and put you back on Ariel."

"How I know you boys won't kill us once you get inside."

"You got my word," said the man.

"Well," Mal said as he shook his head 'no' to Zoe and Jayne. "I guess we surrender. Airlock be open in a jiff."

Mal turned back to his crewmates and the three suited up and checked weapons. Jayne handed out grenades and then Mal asked, "Ready?"

"Always, sir," Zoe said and Jayne just grinned in his demonic way. Jayne and Zoe hid behind crates and had weapons out as Mal opened the outer cargo bay doors. After a minute they could heard the men inside the airlock and they closed the outer door. As the pressure built Mal opened the inner door and before it even got a few feet open all three armed their grenades and tossed them inside as Mal hit the control to close the door. One person in a bluish spacesuit managed to leap through before the doors closed and then there were some screams followed by three loud booms as the grenades went off.

As the man in the blue spacesuit rolled to his knees and tried to get up, a boot from Jayne smashed in his helmet faceplate and he went flying back. In a second Mal had his suit glove off and his pistol drawn and in the man's face as Zoe took the man's weapon.

"Welcome aboard," Mal said.

The man was older than Mal, maybe about fifty, white, with a thick gray handlebar mustache. He coughed and blinked plastic shards out of his eyes. "We had a deal," he rasped.

Mal shook his head. "I never give up anything without a fight."

"They's all dead or will be soon," Jayne said as he opened the airlock and looked inside. Five space suited figures were lying down, all with ripped suits, broken faceplates, weapons strewn about, bleeding, some groaning, others lying still. Jayne walked in and started collecting weapons, keeping an eye on those still not dead, and not really caring if they died or not since they were more than likely gonna kill him and the others in the first place.

Mal tilted up his faceplate and stared at the man who tried to steal his ship. "What's your name?"

"William Farnsworth," the man said. "Folks call me Billy."

"Well, Billy, you call your ship and tell them they can have you and your wounded back once we return to Ariel, a nice public place where they can't be any missile fire unless you like attracting the Alliance to your type of business."

"His ship," Zoe said with a worried look to Mal. "They still have missiles. If they think he's been captured…them grenades, maybe they saw the flash, or someone screamed into their helmet mic before they died."

"Well, Billy will just have to convince them he has control of the ship."

"They won't believe it," Farnsworth said. "My number 2…he been itching to take over. Maybe…damn…I'm a fool."

"What do you mean?" Zoe said, suddenly more worried.

Farnsworth had fear in his eyes. "He thinks I been captured, he'll take the ship for himself, leave me here to rot…and you too for that matter. Or just blow up this ship."

Just then they felt the ship humming and vibrating and Wash's voice came through the comms. "Engine back online, we have power for lift off, Captain. What's going on down there? I thought I heard felt a few bumps. Jayne drop a grenade or two?."

Zoe spoke into her helmet mic. "Wash, we're all OK, wait a moment."

"Get him to the bridge," Mal ordered. "Make him make them think he's got control of the ship and that all is well."

"Captain," came a voice and it was from inside Farnsworth's helmet. "Captain what's going on over there. Jenkins said he thought he hear someone screaming. You all alright?"

Mal gave him a serious look and pointed his pistol at Farnsworth's head as the man spoke. "Yeah, we're OK. They wanted to fight and we had to kill them. Ship is ours."

"Let me talk to Susie," came the voice.

Pause. "She's…dead."

Long silence, then a strangled voice. "Dead? What…what the hell happened?"

"They killed her…sorry. She was one screaming."

"She's my sister!" came a cry. "You…you son-of-a-bitch! Who else is dead?!"

"Just her," Farnsworth lied.

"Then let me talk to Hallings."

"He…ah…he's busy."

"You always was a terrible liar, Billy. Who's really dead?"

"Everyone," Farnsworth said and Mal knew the jig was up and Zoe knew it, too.

"Wash! Take off!" she screamed into the mic.

"Farnsworth, you're done!" came the voice. "I got no more reason to trust you! This ship is mine! See you in hell bastard!"

Serenity II started to rise and only got a few feet before a the scream of rage came from Farnsworth's helmet and the salvage ship fired a missile that make it's quick short journey before it slammed into the rear of Serenity II.

* * *

Wash moved the ship up and then suddenly felt a shudder as something struck the back of the ship and then came a shattering explosion from the rear section. Another missile came from above and hit the left engine and in the brief flash of fire and dust Wash could see the engine shearing off and falling to the surface and Serenity II was falling, coming to a shaky landing in the low gravity of this moon. Flames licked at the remains of the left stabilizer wing for a brief moment and then were gone in the low oxygen environment.

Down in the cargo bay they were all throw off their feet and Farnsworth made an attempt to grab a weapon from the stack Jayne had just dropped to the floor. But he wasn't fast enough and Jayne drilled him through the head just as he was rising with a pistol in hand. Farnsworth would have been dead in seconds anyway as a gap in the rear of the ship by the passenger lounge started venting air and his helmet face plate had been shattered by the kick from Jayne.

"We got a breach!" shouted Zoe as she picked herself up and immediately ran to the spacesuit locker and grabbed the last one, hoping to get it to Wash somehow.

"Upstairs, now!" Mal shouted as he flipped down his helmet face plate and made sure it was tight. They headed topside, fighting the sucking action of the air escaping, clawing their way up the stairs. They reached the second level by shuttle one's door and just as Jayne was about to head up to the top level Mal grabbed him.

"Can't do it, Wash has no suit!" Mal shouted through the helmet comms. Wash was stuck in the upper level, which was sealed off from below, but he had no suit and they couldn't risk opening the upper level doors to join him.

"The shuttle!" Zoe said as she pulled open its door and they piled inside. Mal slammed the door shut behind them and after a few moments made his way to the pilot's chair.

"Wash! Wash! What's happening?" Mal said through the helmet comms. "Where's that ship?"

"He's gone," Wash said, a might more shook up than his usually calm manner. Course he wasn't flying so that made a difference in his demeanor, calm at the helm and not so much when he wasn't. "Guess he didn't want to waste any more missiles. It's bad though. We got no left engine and a hole in the rear. Where are you guys?"

"Shuttle one, baby," said Zoe. "We had a little…incident with the boarding party."

"Ship has vented all lower levels. No oxygen." Wash said as he stood at the damage control panel behind the co-pilot's station.

"We're suited up and in the shuttle," Mal said.

"How much air this shuttle got?" Jayne nervously asked.

"About 10 hours," said Wash. "And the suits have two hours each. That gives you twelve hours."

"Maybe less," Mal said. "We lost some air when we opened the shuttle door."

"You got comms, baby?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, sending a distress signal now."

Jayne smiled. "No worries. Ariel is close by."

"Oh crap," came Wash's voice. "Ah, we don't have comms."

"Say again?" Mal asked in surprise.

"Explosions must have shaken something loose. Cortex and long range radios are down. Working on it."

"Gorramnit!" Jayne cursed. "Knew I shoulda stayed away from anymore Fireflys! Nothin' but junk!"

"We ain't sunk yet," said Mal. "We managed to get a message out before the fight."

"Message to who?" Zoe asked. "And are they less than twelve hours away from here?"

"Someone who can get here in less than a few minutes," said Mal with a grin, hoping like hell Kaylee got his message.

* * *

Kaylee was grimy and grease splattered and that was just the way she liked it. She and her father were in Serenity, looking at the FTL engine plans in the dining room, with several Alliance guards nearby. Their orders were to convert the Frye drive to a large model which could work on Alliance cruisers.

"We need to have the plans for an Alliance cruiser," Kaylee finally said.

"They ain't likely to give us them. Top secret," said her father.

"They want this thing to work they'll give us them plans."

Just then the officer in charge came in from the bridge. "Message for you, Mrs. Frye. Call from your home, said you had an urgent wave."

Kaylee and Jonathan looked at each other a bit surprised, not knowing who would wave them and call it urgent.

"I guess I'd better head home," Kaylee said. "And Daddy, talk to him about what we need."

Kaylee knew her father would convince them and felt good about their progress as she left the ship. It was parked in a wooded area, in a small field, and an Alliance crew was busy putting up an electric fence around it and soon they planned on some guard towers and other such things. Kaylee felt a little sad, knowing that a ship needed to be flown and was no good sitting on the ground. It'd get all rusty and lose the feel of space and she needed to be flown once in a while.

Two guards automatically fell in with Kaylee as she walked and she quickly told them where she was going. A small vehicle came up to them and the three boarded with the driver. Kaylee and her father were not to be left unguarded for a moment and Simon had a bodyguard who stood outside the door at the small New Shanghai clinic where he started working the day before.

Mary was waiting for her at the house and she looked very worried and Kaylee got scared, believing something terrible had happened to Simon.

She could barely wait for the door to close and the guards were outside. "What's happened to Simon?"

Mary was puzzled for a moment and then let out a sigh. "It's not Simon…it's your friends…from the ship. I saw the address but I didn't open it."

Kaylee's heart skipped a beat and she ran into the living room to the Cortex machine. There was a message from the Capt'n, and it was already five hours old, taking that long to come from Ariel to Taos. Even more surprising was that the wave address was a ship called…Serenity! Kaylee hit the play button and sat stunned as her Capt'n talked.

"Kaylee, hate to be a pain but were under attack, been shot down on the…what is it?" Mal said over his shoulder and she could hear Wash say. "Sixth moon of Ariel."

"Sixth moon of Ariel," Mal said. "Salvage ship, thinks we're the real Serenity. They got us with an EMP and they got missiles. Ain't no atmo here and everything looks fried. We're working on it but…just in case…you let Inara know I'm sorry and…I love her. And don't be no hero and try to come out here and rescue us. Just…needed to let someone know what happened. Time to get ready for a fight. We all love you to pieces. Be good." And then he was gone.

Kaylee was stunned and started to tremble. They were in trouble and maybe were already dead. But no that was silly, it was the Capt'n and Zoe and Jayne and Wash and they got out of more than one scrape. Shot down on a moon with no atmo. This was a might different. And she wasn't there to help. Not yet anyways.

Mary was asking her what was going on and Kaylee just said it was just a friendly wave and she had to go see Simon and then she was gone. Her guards picked up her fast pace as she crossed one street and down another to the clinic where Simon was working.

A young boy was sitting on the examining table when Kaylee burst in, a woman who was most likely his mother was sitting on a chair holding an infant.

"Is it the damplung, Doctor?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Simon, I gotta tell you something," Kaylee said in a hurry.

"Oh, hi, Kaylee. One sec, dear. No, Mrs. Davidson, just a minor cold. Keep him warm and out of school and it should pass in a few days. Oh, and make sure the baby is nowhere near him. I'll write a prescription…."

"Simon, we gotta talk."

"OK, just a…"

"NOW!"

Simon was frozen by the sound of his wife screeching, her normal pleasantness nowhere to be found. She saw his thunderstruck look, and the looks of the woman and her son, and realized she had lost her cool.

"Sorry, but…it's important," Kaylee said in a bare whisper.

"OK dear, what's happened?" Simon asked in a sympathetic tone. But suddenly Kaylee clammed up and eyed the people so Simon quickly got the boy's prescription and sent them on their way. As soon as they were gone she grabbed Simon in a bear hug and the tears came.

"It's Serenity. She's been attacked," she finally managed to gasp.

Simon was taken aback. "But…where are the guards…I didn't hear anything. Has anyone been hurt? Your father!"

"No, not our Serenity. Zoe's! At least…the wave said Serenity," and then she quickly explained.

"My God," Simon said as he sat down in his chair by his small desk. "This is all my fault. I…I…sent them after River."

"Ain't your fault," Kaylee told him. "They thought it was our Serenity, wanted the engine. If it's anyone's fault it's mine."

They sat in silence for a while. Finally Simon spoke. "Mal said for us not to run off and do anything foolish."

"Yeah. But I ain't in the mood to listen to him now."

Simon looked at her with a steady gaze. "We'll get in a whole pile of trouble."

"I know…just…can't leave them there."

"We'll need a fast ship," Simon said.

"I know where one is," Kaylee said back.

"Who's gonna fly it?" Simon asked quietly, not believing they were having this conversation.

"I think we can find a pilot. In fact, I know one who lives with us. At least he used to be, long time ago."

"Not your…really?"

"Yeah, when he was my age…freighters and stuff."

"He won't go," Simon said with a sudden deflating of his shoulders as he knew the plan would come to naught.

"He'll have to or they'll come looking for him again cause I'll find me a pilot no matter what," Kaylee said. "Besides it's only temporary. A rescue mission."

"Are we really going to do this?"

"Yup. We're stealing Serenity back from the Alliance. We find the Capt'n and then, maybe, we'll help go look for River."

* * *

River knew where she was and had fooled the Alliance cruiser by hiding on the far side of Paquin before they realized what had happened or had ships or sensors around to find the Katya. She directed Flying Officer Janice Flowers to land in a wooded area far from any civilization and as the Katya landed the pilot suddenly realized she might be expendable as River gazed at her from the co-pilot seat with the pistol in her hand, still wearing Flowers' uniform.

"What…what now?" Janice asked in a nervous voice.

River said nothing and then turned and ripped out the transponder box from the control panel and cut its wires off with her knife. For a brief second her pistol was in her lap as her hands were busy and Janice's mind couldn't help but flash to the idea of taking it. Suddenly River's eyes turned to her.

"Bad idea," River said.

"I'm sorry…I couldn't help it. You're going to kill me now, right?"

"No. I don't kill unless it is necessary."

Janice heaved a sigh of relief and some tears fell from her eyes. "Then…I am free to go."

"Not yet. I may still need you."

"For what? What's your plan?"

"I'm making this up as I go along. For now the plan is to hide here for a bit. This ship is warm and has food and we are going to power it down and camouflage it so any passing ships can't find it. We will also search it for tracking devices."

"OK…we can do that."

"Good…are you cold?" River asked as she could see Janice was shivering, River's green dress and skirt that Janice was wearing still wet and her long black hair was still damp.

"Yes. Freezing."

"Let's see if we can find a change of clothes and what food and drink is on board."

River stood and motioned Janice to stand and walk in front of her. They moved back to the living quarters of the ship. It was smaller than a Firefly and not made for long voyages in deep space. Probably had a crew of three or four River thought as she found only three bunks. She opened the first and a rank smell greeted their noses.

"Man's," said River and Janice couldn't disagree. "Let's hope some women were on board."

The next one they got luckier and it was a woman's and a man's, shared by the looks of it, with a wide bed and some clothes in a wooden dresser, some pictures on a wall of a smiling couple. After a quick search they found some women's clothing, dresses, shirts and pants, socks, underwear, and a few towels. The clothes were not the highest quality or the lowest and seemed about the right size, maybe a bit bigger.

"You first," River said as she stood by the bed.

Janice blushed. "I'm sorry, but I'd like some privacy."

"No. I have already seen you when we changed before so don't play shy. Besides I don't trust you."

"You…you…think I'd try something…when you can read my mind?"

"You have been kidnapped and forced to do things against your will by a perfect stranger. My training tells me that you will try anything to escape this situation. You are not trained to hide your thoughts from me but all you need is one second to pick something up and stab me. Now change your clothes or shiver all you like. It matters not to me."

Janice just stared at her and then slowly started to remove the wet clothing until she was naked in front of River. Janice kept her head down and spoke in a soft voice.

"Now you have seen me bare naked. There is nothing else you can take from me."

River said nothing but stared at this beautiful woman and River felt something she couldn't quite explain, felt a burning sensation and a sense of…something. No, it can't be, it's my mind…I'm not right…I need Simon…I need my medicine! Then she snapped out of it and Janice was staring at her.

"Are you…sick?"

"Get dressed," River ordered and Janice did so, not putting on underwear because putting on a stranger's would be just too sickening. She chose a pair of blue pants and a yellow sweater and white socks.

"Now get on the bed," River ordered and Janice almost smiled.

"Are you trying to seduce me? It would have worked better if I had no clothes on."

River was taken aback and then she saw something in Janice's mind, saw Janice kissing another women and River was floored by this thought and her face turned red.

"My God," Janice said in shock, realizing River had read her thoughts and was flushed because of that. "You…are you…like me?"

River shook her head and then grabbed Janice roughly and threw her on the bed and put the pistol in her face. "Nothing at all. I kill people. I'm a trained assassin for the Alliance who has been betrayed by them. That's who I am."

Janice gulped in fear but pressed on, finding a chink in the armor of this lovely young woman. "No, River Tam, you are much more. You are a person, with a heart, a body, a soul, like everyone else."

River gasped slightly and then stood up and stared at Janice, her pistol down, and away from Janice.

"I think you want..." Janice began but River's face turned into a scowl.

"Shut up! Shut up!" she screamed and thrust the pistol at the pilot. "Shut up!" River said softly one more time.

Janice's eyes filled with dread and she kept quiet waiting for her death but it didn't come.

Nothing was said as River grabbed a shirt from the dresser, a man's shirt. Using the knife she ripped it into long strips and used them to tie Janice to the bed, arms and feet. When she was done she stood and looked at the helpless pilot, who was clearly very scared now and uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry I scared you," River said softly.

"I'm sorry I suggested you were...like me," Janice whispered after a moment of hesitation.

"I don't know what I am like," River sadly said after a moment of thought and then began to speak in a quiet tone. "I went to the academy when I was fourteen years old. They told us it was a school for geniuses. But it wasn't. They trained me for three years to kill people, to be a spy, pilot, comms expert, fighting machine. I had no contact with…with real people. No boyfriends…no dances…no dates...no normal life. There was one man I kissed. It was only a short time ago but it seems so long now. I don't know what I am." A tear rolled down her cheek and Janice could only feel her heart well in sorry and sympathy for her kidnapper.

"Now you see me as well, naked before you and bare. I have nothing else to hide," River said quietly and Janice said nothing. Then River starting taking off the wet pilot's uniform. In a few minutes she had changed into a purplish flowery dress and green socks. She grabbed all the wet clothes and then went to the door of the bunk and turned around to look at Janice looking at her.

"I'm going to hang these to dry and find some food. Try to get some rest." And then she was gone, leaving Janice alone with mixed feelings of fear, helplessness, and, strangest of all, growing attraction for River Tam.

* * *

The shuttle took Inara to the commercial port of the great capital city of Sihnon. It had been almost two years by her reckoning since she had last been here, six by everyone else's. To her surprise and somewhat embarrassment Paulo was waiting for her as she entered the baggage collection lounge.

Inara composed herself and greeted her husband. "Hello, Paulo, it is very nice to see you again."

Paulo smiled and his eyes glistened with the adoration he felt. Inara sensed this immediately and knew there was going to be trouble. "Welcome home, dear Inara. I have arraigned for your luggage to be collected and for you to come stay at the mansion."

"Oh? Does your family still have one? I heard the Chase family had fallen on hard times."

Paulo forced a grin. "Not quite so hard as maybe you were led to believe. We are still among the oldest families in the galaxy and still have substantial wealth and holdings."

Inara smiled back. "Well, that is good to know. Perhaps we can forgo some of the debt I owe if things are looking so rosy."

This time Paulo did not smile. "That is out of the question. The debt is a legal matter and a matter of pride. In fact, I have arranged for us to go to the lawyer's office immediately to settle this matter at once. I've also arranged for a public notice for the Cortex announcing our divorce so that my dignity can be restored."

"Well, there is no sense wasting any time. Shall we?"

Inara's luggage was collected by some of Paulo's servants and in a short time they were in a luxurious car heading through the streets of the capital. Inara was lost in memories, staring through the windows at the temples, the towers, the parks, and the people. Paulo remained silent, sitting opposite her in the roomy passenger area, sipping some liquor from a glass, which Inara had declined. After being tricked with poisoned food on the Earth's Moon base, Inara was more wary of accepting drinks or food from strangers. Paulo was not a stranger but they had a not so pleasant history together.

Suddenly Inara realized that they were in a more suburban area, and that they were leaving the city.

"Where are we going?" she asked in worry. Paulo laughed slightly, but Inara could see a look of determination in his eyes.

"Oh, you are far too trusting Inara," he said with a silent rage. "To think I would give you a divorce without meeting the man you are in love with first? My honor couldn't stand it."

Oh, merciful Buddha, these men and there gorramn honor! "Paulo, there is no other man."

"Oh, really? Well, I have done a little research over the last two days and it seems there is a very interesting story going about concerning a Firefly named Serenity and an FTL drive on board. My sources say that this is the very Firefly you were on several years ago before your disappearance. My source also tells me that a dashingly handsome captain named Malcolm Reynolds was in command until he sold the ship to the Alliance to make a deal to save his crew, which included you. And a friend who has nimble fingers with the banking system has informed me that you recently received one million credits into your accounts on Ariel, credits that came directly from the Alliance main military procurement office on Londinium. I am guessing this is the money the Alliance gave Reynolds for his ship."

"All true, but there is nothing between me and Reynolds. He is just a friend who needed help with some banking. Let it go."

But Paulo shook his head. "Why pay me now? Why after all these years? I can only guess it is the suddenly wealth from Reynolds, which coupled with your savings from lying on your back all those years has enabled you to pay your debt. Now why would a rogue like Reynolds allow you to take his money? There is only one reason why men are duped by women: love. He loves you and I am guessing by the look of panic in your eyes that you love him."

"We are not in love! I despise the man! He is a rogue, as you say, and much more."

Paulo looked at her in puzzlement, almost willing to believe her, but not quite. "There will be no divorce and no settling of accounts until Reynolds presents himself here on Sihnon."

"What….why?" Inara asked in shock. "We are not in love!"

"Because I don't believe you and my honor demands it!" Paulo shouted in fury. "To divorce me to marry another man will make me even more a laughingstock! Reynolds will face me with blade in his hand. If he wins and I die, the lawyers will grant the divorce and the debt will be forgiven. If I win and he dies, you remain my bride, and I will take all of your money."

Inara had regained her composure and was glaring at Paulo. "Then you will die. I have seen Malcolm Reynolds beat better men than you."

Paulo laughed. "Really? How interesting. I hope he is a good swordsman. I haven't had a challenge in quite some time."

"Take me to the Guild House," Inara demanded. "At once!"

"No, no, no," Paulo said with a leering glare. "You will remain my…guest…at my mansion, until this matter is settled. And when Reynolds is dead, you will be my wife and restore my honor, or you will join him."


	4. Chapter 4

_Kaylee and Simon tell a few fibs, Mal and Wash try to repair their broken ship, and River learns many new things about herself._

**River's Run – Part 4 **

"It's too big," Mal said into his spacesuit helmet comms to Wash. "Could drive a team of horses right through it. "It" was the big damn hole in the rear of Serenity II. Mal was standing where a couple of passenger dorm rooms on the rear right of the ship had been and now they were nothing but jagged metal and plastic and a big damn hole.

"It can't be patched up?" Wash asked from the bridge, where he was alone. Trapped on the bridge when the ship had been hit by space scavengers, Wash was the only crew member without a spacesuit. Jayne and Zoe and Mal had put suits on when they knew they were about to be boarded. After a brief and victorious fight against the intruders, the ship that had attacked them hit Serenity II with two missiles, one of which breached the hull and sucked out all air from the lower deck. Now they were stuck on a lifeless moon without any atmo.

"Not a chance," said Mal as he looked across the grayish, rock and ash looking moonscape and the deep nothingness of the black beyond the horizon. "Not even if Kaylee were here."

"Let's just hope she got that message," Wash said. "Still nothing on comms. I think it might be the antenna. Care to go for a walk and take a look?"

"Sure. Need to stretch my legs anyways," Mal replied as he walked out the hole and dropped a few feet to the surface. He took this route because he didn't relish walking through the airlock where five dead people were again. He had checked them first when he had come down from the shuttle, hopping that maybe their oxygen tanks had survived three grenade blasts. They hadn't. Three of the tanks had holes in them, another one had its hose cut, and the last one the helmet faceplate was cracked and all the air escaped. Farnsworth was gone, sucked out the hole when the lower deck depressurized. Mal could now see his body lodged against some rocks and a quick check reveled his tank was damaged and mostly likely empty, too.

He stepped further back from the ship and looked to the bridge. He could see Wash looking out and they waved to each other. Mal walked around to the front of the ship and then to the left side and he groaned when he saw the antennas on the side of the cockpit. They were dangling down and seemed to be only hanging by a few wires.

"Looks like that blast got the antennas also, Wash."

"Think they can be fixed?"

"We can try," Mal said. "Better than sitting around doing nothing. I'm heading back inside see if I can rustle up some gear to fix it."

"Ah, Mal, all the tools are in the engine room."

"Yeah, I'll be right…oh shit."

"Yeah," Wash said back. "You can't get in without depressurizing the upper level. Maybe we can open the doors fast enough if I strap myself into the cockpit."

"I got a better idea. The upper airlock."

"How you going to get to it?"

"Somehow," Mal said with determination and the way somehow was on the left side by managing to pull himself up on the remains of the stabilizer, then climbing the shuttle, and then the solar panel on the left side and then finally finding groves in the metal where the bulky gloves fit. In twenty minutes Mal was in the airlock and then inside with Wash. He told Jayne and Zoe what he had done and in half an hour they were all together again. After a brief reunion, Zoe helped Wash get into the last spacesuit she and Jayne had managed to drag with them. The first thing Jayne did was head for the kitchen and start cooking.

"Jayne, now ain't the time for making grub," Mal said as they gathered in the dining area.

"If I'm gonna die on this rock I wanna die with a full belly," Jayne retorted as he pulled some frozen chicken from the small freezer.

"Well then make enough for all of us."

"Okay. Let's get the tools we need, some EVA ropes and harnesses and off we go," Wash said to Mal.

"You know what to do baby?" Zoe asked her husband.

"Ah…well…once I see the problem…I should be able to fix it and get off a distress signal. I think."

"We ever fly again without a mechanic someone kick me in the ass," said Mal in frustration,

"Gladly" Jayne replied with a smirk from where he was cutting some frozen chicken with a big knife. "Just hope I get the chance."

Mal and Wash gathered what they thought they needed and then went through the upper airlock to the roof of the ship, carefully made their way to the cockpit, hooked on EVA lines and harnesses, and slowly made their way to the damaged antenna. Mal watched as Wash examined it and then he looked at Mal and shook his head. His voice came over the internal suit comms.

"It's too badly damaged,' Wash said. "It's got shrapnel holes, and the wires are sheared off except this black one here and I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Try," Mal ordered and they did try, for over an hour, and nothing worked. They had a hard time working in the bulky gloves and they had no idea what they were doing and Mal wished like hell Kaylee was here. She'd smile and say no problem Capt'n, have comms ready in a sec and he wouldn't even worry. But she wasn't here and they didn't know what to do and after an hour of trying and Zoe testing the comms and the Cortex in the cockpit they gave up and Mal and Wash headed inside.

As they sat eating Jayne's chicken stew, a little awkwardly in their suits, they tried to brainstorm a way out of this mess.

"The shuttle?" Jayne suggested but its range was too short to get to Ariel, its comms not powerful enough to call for help, and they might run out of air before someone found them in the vastness of space, even so close to a busy planet like Ariel. As they ate more ideas were suggested and one idea after another was shot down.

"Let's just take off!" said Zoe with a bright smile. "We still have one VTOL and the main engine."

Wash shook his head. "Sorry, babe, a good idea but…it won't work. With one VTOL engine the ship will spin and spin and go nowhere, even if I set it at its lowest power setting. The retro rockets could provide some counter stability but once their juice ran out we would spin like a top. We could run for Ariel on the main engine but what about landing? I need two VTOLs and a steady ship to land."

"Let's try it," Mal said and Wash shook his head but reluctantly tried it and what he said happened. As soon as the ship started to lift the force from the right VTOL tried to spin them over to the left and Wash had to use full retro rocket juice on the left side to counter. He tried using less power on the VTOL but it didn't provide enough lift so he had to set it higher. They barely got fifty feet in the air when the ship took a violent lurch and almost tumbled over and only Wash's skill got them back on the moon in one piece.

"All piloting decisions are up to you from now on, Wash," Mal said from the co-pilot's seat as they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you!" Wash replied in exasperation and Zoe could see he was shaken up by what had just happened.

"We'll get out of this," she said. "Kaylee's coming."

"I'm sure she is," said Mal, but even he sounded a little less confident than a while ago.

No one said a word and the cockpit was silent until Jayne finally spoke. "I ain't even delivered that last letter for the Shepherd yet."

"You'll get that chance," said Zoe. "Kaylee'll be here."

"When?" Jayne asked.

"Now!" yelled Wash as he pointed out the window and there was Serenity, coming high over the horizon and hovering in the distance in front of them.

* * *

"Firefly class vessel…Serenity?" said the Alliance pilot as he looked up from the transponder scanner to Kaylee in the co-pilot's seat. "That damaged ship has the same name as ours."

"Huh? Isn't that strange," Kaylee said in reply as she could see the transponder reader hooked up to the bridge screens flashing the name Serenity and the owner as Zoe Washburne. She could see it was a Firefly and she was all banged up, the left engine detached and on the ground aways from the ship. "We'll it don't matter what the name is, they sure look like they need rescuing. Let's go get 'em."

"That is not our mission," said the officer in charge from behind Kaylee. "You said you needed to test the….super..conduc…whatever it was."

"Ah, Captain…Oren…right?"

"Yes, Mrs. Frye."

"The test is completed. That ship is in trouble and they need our help."

"Then why haven't they contacted us? Perhaps it's a derelict and no one is on board."

"I can see lights in the cockpit, sir," said the pilot.

"It may be a trap. This ship is valuable," Oren replied.

Oh, brother. You don't need to tell me that! Kaylee thought. She had to convince them

"We have to check," said Kaylee. "It's your duty as Alliance soldiers!"

"Not in this case. This vessel's safety is my top priority," said Captain Oren. "That name of the owner…Washburne…it seems familiar."

"Really?" Kaylee said trying to muster as much sincerity as she could.

Question after question and Kaylee was running out of the energy to lie. She had been lying for the last hour, first to her father and then to the Alliance. Simon had convinced her that the only way they could take Serenity was to make it look like they were doing a test run and then let Mal do what he did best once they rescued them. She thought it was a great plan but he also told her that it was best if her father stayed behind this time. They still needed him to run the show on Taos and after all, they were just borrowing the ship for a little while. She and Simon had returned to Serenity at once and pulled her father outside the ship to explain that Mary needed him at home.

"Oh?" Jonathan had said. "What for?"

"Ah…ah…" Kaylee stammered and started to turn a little red.

"It's a surprise!" Simon said, coming to her rescue. "She wouldn't tell us anything but something smelled good in the kitchen."

Jonathan broke into a grin. "That woman sure can cook. Alright, let's go get some supper."

"We…we need to do a few things here before we go back," Simon said. "I left some books in my old room and Kaylee has to…check something."

He could see they were both lying and he confronted them. "What's this really all about?"

"Oh Daddy it's…" Kaylee started to say but Simon cut her off.

"Privacy…no privacy…for you and Mary!"

"What in the verse are you on about, Doc?"

"What I mean to say is you and Mary need…some space…some… privacy. And with us living there since we got back…well, there's no…privacy." Simon said this last like a school boy caught doing something bad.

Jonathan smiled. "Privacy, huh? Well, if I didn't know better Doc, I guess it was you and my daughter wanted some…privacy."

"Ah…well…we sure could do with some… too," Simon stammered and now he was red faced.

"Might be time we found you kids your own home," Jonathan said with a big smile.

"No, no," Kaylee jumped in, catching on to Simon's plan but still a bit embarrassed to talk about…privacy…in front of her father.. "It's not that. It's…well, maybe…maybe you're right."

"Look Kaylee, you're a married woman and I know you need your own place. We'll talk on this tomorrow. You kids go and enjoy some…privacy…and I'm going to go home and have a nice…supper. If I was you I wouldn't come knocking for two, three hours at least. I got me a mighty big appetite."

With that he walked past his shocked daughter and an embarrassed Simon and went home with a whistle on his lips, followed by two Alliance guards.

Convincing the Alliance soldiers and engineers on Serenity that they needed to do a test run was a little easier. Kaylee was in charge for the most part, the engineers were behind on the learning curve and Captain Oren didn't have a clue and had orders to be as accommodating as possible. When he asked Kaylee why her father did not accompany them, she merely said that he had to see to the work being done at his factory, which was still making conventional engine parts for spacecraft until a time when they were ready to convert it to make Frye drives.

Now on the bridge of Serenity high over the crashed remains of another Firefly on the barren sixth moon of Ariel, Kaylee bit her lip and pressed on, trying to convince Oren that those people needed rescuing. When he discovered it was Mal and the others later on, she'd try to show as much surprise as she could.

"We gotta check for people," Kaylee said in an almost whining tone.

"Look!" said the pilot suddenly. "Someone has just come from around the back of the ship. He's waving his arms!"

"See! People need our help!" Kaylee said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastic.

"Captain, she's right," said the pilot. "It is our duty to help those people."

Oren sighed heavily and then took the ship's comms mic and pressed the button for ship wide intercom. "All personnel report to the airlock, armed and ready to receive survivors of a crashed ship. Doctor Tam, please join them."

Then he looked to the pilot. "Set her down, 100 meters in front."

"Aye, sir."

Oren and Kaylee moved off to the cargo bay. Now Kaylee could only hope things went well when her old shipmates came on board. As they descended the stairs to the cargo bay Kaylee got a bad feeling. The word "survivors" rang in her ears. Someone could be hurt or…dead! The Capt'n's message had been so brief and had been before they had been damaged. She knew Simon was preparing for any injuries they had. She just hoped there were none.

* * *

There were none, thankfully, but Mal felt like giving Jayne an injury, right on his big noggin'.

"I ain't leaving them behind!" Jayne said with determination to Mal as he tried to lug both his duffel bag of weapons and the backpack full of the Melbourne bank swag through the hole in front to the ship.

"Jayne, we don't know who is on board and I'm guessing Kaylee ain't alone. No way could she and Simon have taken the ship so I figure they did a bit of fibbing and those Alliance guys are still on board. They ain't gonna like you carrying a big bag of guns on board with you!"

"Private property!" Jayne said back. "You all got yours so I got mine."

As soon as they saw the ship, Mal ran downstairs and out the gaping hole and around to the front waving his arms. He saw Serenity descending and went back inside where the others were trying to gather some personal items from their bunks, the bulky spacesuits making it awkward to get in and out.

"Come on, before they leave us!' Mal said, taking nothing but his pistol, boots, and long brown jacket and few smaller items.

As they trudged across the moonscape to Serenity the ramp came down and the outer airlock doors opened. Mal wasn't surprised to see at least ten Alliance soldiers with guns pointing at them when the airlock pressurized and the inner doors opened. Simon and Kaylee stood next to them and tried to look surprised.

As soon as Mal took off his helmet Kaylee let out a gasp. "Why…it's Capt'n Reynolds!"

"Oh my God…wasn't it lucky we were nearby!" said Simon and Mal almost cried, they were so bad at pretending. Just too darn honest.

"Howdy, Little Kaylee, Doc. Sure was nice of you to drop by," Mal said in his best Shadow drawl.

"Don't act so surprise, Mrs. Frye, Doctor Tam," Oren said as he looked sternly at them. "Now I recognize that name, Washburne. You knew all along, didn't you?"

Kaylee looked down like a bad school girl. "Yeah…they waved me. I knew you wouldn't come just to rescue them."

"Ain't Kaylee or Simon's fault," Zoe said. "We were attacked because some scavengers thought we were the real Serenity. I …named my new ship Serenity also and they read our transponder."

"What a sad tale. Take their weapons," Oren ordered and his troops moved to do so.

"Just a minute," Mal said. "These are our private property and under Alliance law a man has the right to carry arms and defend himself."

"True," said Oren. "But on this ship that does not apply. Besides, we will protect you."

"Now I feel a whole lot better," said Jayne sarcastically as he handed over his guns, followed by a reluctant Mal and Zoe.

"I don't have a gun!" said Wash as a soldier examined his bag and pulled out a toy dinosaur. Wash snatched it back. "Hey, that's…a gift…for my…nephew!"

After all the guns were taken and after they took off their space suits, Oren told them they could stay in the passenger dorms and were not allowed anywhere near the bridge or engine room.

"This is not your ship any longer, Captain Reynolds. It is the property of the Alliance," Oren said and then turned to Kaylee. "Prepare for the jump back to Taos. Your little transgression will be duly recorded and some suitable penalty shall be applied."

"Be much obliged if you drop us off at Ariel," Mal said.

After a brief moment hesitation Oren relented. "Fine, to Ariel. And Captain Reynolds, in the future, this ship will not be coming to anyone's rescue, so you are on your own."

"Ain't nothing new to me."

Kaylee said a quick goodbye and then she and Oren left for the upper deck with half of the troops and all of their guns.

"Sorry," Mal said to Simon. "Didn't mean to get you into trouble."

Simon shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Trouble seems to follow you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Mal said. "Say Doc, we got a line on your sister."

"Paquin," Simon said quietly so the guards standing nearby didn't hear them.

"Right," Zoe said. "But…we got no transport."

"Not yet," said Mal looking around Serenity and feeling at home.

"You're going to steal her back?" Simon asked in a low whisper, knowing this was coming.

Mal grinned. "Well, steal might be a little too strong a word. We'll just…borrow it…for a bit."

"Then what?" Simon asked.

"We do what you hired us to do," said Zoe. "We find River."

* * *

Other people were looking for River and having no luck either. The Saratoga had more important things to do than search for a fugitive. After recovering its search team and the injured Patterson and soldiers were sent to the medical facility, the captain debriefed the survivors and knew they were up against someone who was not so ordinary a criminal as they had thought. He immediately contacted fleet headquarters and after twenty minutes Admiral Shin appeared on a scrambled Cortex line in the captain's bridge office.

"Do you have her, Captain?" Shin began without any formalities.

"No, sir. As reported earlier, Tam escaped, killed two of my people and a customs official and took one of my pilot's hostage. Tam escaped on a Hornet class freighter to Paquin and we suspect she landed and is in hiding down there."

"You are to maintain stations and search all vessels that leave Paquin."

"Sir, that will take some effort. I suggest we leave it to the police and military forces on Paquin. Saratoga is scheduled to join the fleet at Haven and…"

"You have your orders, Captain. Find Tam. Begin a ground search for her using your forces alone. Do not involve the military and police on Paquin except to tell them to be on the look out for Tam. Send her photo to them immediately. If they find her, tell them not to try to apprehend her until your soldiers arrive."

"Very well, sir. The men who fought her...they say she must have had some kind of training. Perhaps we need some…specialists. Perhaps an Operative."

"I am sending several highly trained personnel to you right now. They should arrive in a day or two. You will maintain vigilance until then. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," the captain replied and then Shin was gone.

Why all the trouble for one girl? She was a fugitive, she killed people, but…anyway, that was Shin's business. Mine is to capture her.

The captain left his bridge office and came onto the bridge. "Get me the commander of our ground force team and our air squadron commander," he said to comms tech. Once these two men arrived on the bridge he addressed them as they stood around the tactical battle table.

"You will do a search of the remote areas of Paquin, this more remote side of the planet, that's where they'll be," he said as they looked at a 3D image of the planet that appeared as hologram over the table. "Use electronic, infrared, and noise scanners. Find that ship and then land a ground team. Your orders are to kill the fugitive and rescue Flowers."

"And what if the fugitive resists as before?" the ground troop commander asked. "She's already killed two of my men and injured several others. That prisoner, Patterson, they say he warned them about her, that they wouldn't take her. He knows something."

"Then question him," the captain ordered. "Find out what he knows. If the fugitive resists, kill her."

"And if Flowers is in the way?"

The captain hesitated, looked to his squadron commander. "She knows the risks, has had POW training?"

"They all do," said the squadron commander. "She knows if we have to, we will sacrifice her."

The captain was silent for a moment, knowing so many had died recently in the skies over Haven. But Tam had to be stopped and if Flowers was in the way there was nothing that could be done about it. "So be it. Gentlemen, you have your orders. Report as soon as you find anything."

The two officers left and the captain stared out the bridge's super strong space glass windows towards the blue green world of Paquin. One of his people was out there, hostage to a woman who was a ruthless killer. Perhaps Flowers was already dead.

* * *

She wasn't dead, but trussed up and laying on a stranger's bed in a strange ship with a very…unusual…woman as her captor. Janice Flowers did have POW and survival training, all pilots did, but nothing had trained or prepared her to be in the hands of a mind reader who just happened to be a deadly assassin, trained by the Alliance. How much of River's story was true or not, Janice didn't know, but she felt sorrow for the girl, and sympathy for her plight and even a growing attraction for her.

Janice had known she was different from her friends as she grew up in a small rural town on Londinium, had known that she was more attracted to girls than boys. Her first shy attempts at romance in high school had been awkward and difficult, her not knowing who was like her and who wasn't. She confessed her feelings for one friend only to be rejected and she felt the burning shame of her secret being out. She didn't know if the friend had told anyone else, and nothing was ever said to her, but after that she kept more to herself. To please her parents, Janice accepted a boy's invitation to the end of high school dance and had even let him kiss her, but thankfully he was so drunk he had passed out in the back seat of his car. After high school there was no money for university so she elected to join the military, which would pay for university after her three year term of service. Much to her surprise her aptitude tests had shown her suitability for pilot training.

In training school she found her first love, another pilot, a senior trainer who instinctively knew Janice was like her. They had to be careful, the military frowning on same sex relations. While the constitution of the Alliance didn't allowed for same sex marriages, homosexuality wasn't against the law. Yet it was still looked down on by many elements of society, especially the rough and ready world of the military. After the six month training period they had to say their reluctant, tearful, goodbyes as Janice graduated and joined the Saratoga. She was only four months on the ship, barely 20 years old, and now she was in more trouble than all the rest of her life combined.

She was exhausted and hungry and all her training told her to rest, as River had suggested. Gradually she did the mental exercises she had been taught in survival school, reaching out for happy thoughts, finding where she had felt the safest, and slowly she thought on her lover, and there she was happiest, and she let images of their time together fill her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Hornet class was no Firefly, that was for sure, River thought as she walked through the ship. It was much smaller and cramped, with no open spaces and even the cargo bay was tiny compared to a Firefly's. She had quickly put their wet clothes to dry on some chairs in the small dining area and then went outside to survey the area.

It was nighttime and River didn't know how long it would last, being unfamiliar with Paquin's rate of rotation. The Katya was in a forest but they had no high overhead cover and could be seen once daylight came. River moved back into the ship, closed the hatch and went back to the bridge, hoping to find more information about Paquin on a Cortex screen. As soon as she sat down she realized that a Cortex connection would show up as electronic noise to any sensors sweeping for the ship so she nixed that idea. Even firing up the engines would be noticed if a ship was overhead so moving was also out of the question. It would soon be time to abandon the ship, before daybreak arrived. River sat in the pilot's chair and stretched out her mind to search for anyone looking for them. After a few moments she realize no one was there except her and Janice Flowers, who was now asleep. And dreaming.

Suddenly River's heart rate rose and she began to get that feeling she had when looking at Janice's naked body yesterday. Her mind was defenseless, her medicine with her brother far away, and she was flooded with emotions, Janice's sexual feelings, as the pilot dreamed of being with a woman, a blonde woman, both of them naked and in a bed, kissing, touching, hugging, stroking taunt flesh, and moaning and sighing and telling each other they loved the other. River felt her breath coming in ragged gasps, her nipples hardened, and she unconsciously spread her legs, leaned back in the pilot's seat and moved her hand between her legs. It was something she had done before, her young body not totally dead from what the Alliance had done to her. But now it was not enough. As if in a dream, she stood and walked to the bunk where Janice was held.

River stood over her with the knife in her hand and looked down at the sleeping pilot, the dreams still flooding River's senses. She had trouble controlling herself as she sat on the bed and in swift moves cut Janice's bonds, all of them, took off her pistol belt and place it and the knife on the wooden dresser. The pilot was suddenly awake as River sat on the bed again, Janice startled out of her sleep, and then she was staring at River, and could see her flushed face and ragged breathing and knew she had felt her dreams. Slowly Janice sat up and lifted a hand to River's face and touched this beautiful young woman.

"I have never been loved," River said in a heart wrenching gasp and Janice leaned forward and their lips parted and meet and they slowly kissed, warm soft, and beautiful. She could feel the heat flowing from River and knew what she wanted, what she needed, and slowly Janice pulled her down onto the bed and for the next few hours both were lost to the verse as they brought each other to ecstasy over and over again.

* * *

"I've told you that I don't know where he is," Inara calmly said to Paulo.

"If he is on that ship he could be anywhere and even here in a few minutes. Just wave Serenity and let us be done with this!"

Paulo was seething with rage and Inara wished Mal could show up now because Paulo was most vulnerable when angry and she was sure Mal could goad him into a mistake. Goading people was Mal's specialty as Inara had learned the hard way, her many lessons learned from their verbal sparring not forgotten, his ability to get under her skin one of the things she loved and hated about the man.

Inara sat on a plush sofa in a small room off of her quarters in Paulo's mansion. It was a sitting room and a dressing room and all her belongings were here. She refused to meet Paulo in her bedroom and her refused to let her out of these two rooms. A small portable Cortex screen was brought for her to use to contact Mal and she refused and refused again and that was the source of Paulo's anger.

"Serenity belongs to the Alliance now," Inara said. "That is very clear from these media reports from Taos when the ship brought the Frye's home." The latest report was up on the screen, a picture of Kaylee, her father, and Simon standing on the ramp of Serenity with some local official in top hat and many Alliance soldiers behind them. The headline above the photos said "Heroes Return Home".

"Inara, you can rot in these rooms the rest of your days if you do not bring Reynolds here."

"Oh, he will come. When I don't contact him or meet him, he will come. When you least expect it and with a gun and he will shoot you in the back before you know he is there."

"The man has no honor," Paulo said in disgust.

"More than you'll ever have. He fought for what he believed in."

"As what?" Paulo asked in contempt. "A Browncoat? Ran with their tails between their legs at Serenity Valley and surrendered by the thousands."

"What did you do during the war, Paulo?" Inara asked him calmly, it taking all of her Companion training not to rise and slap him for insulting what Mal had gone through

Paulo blanched a bit, turned his head away from her and look out a window covered in bars. "My father forbade me from joining the military. I was needed to run the business. We did our share, supplying weapons and ammunition. As you supplied the comforts of the bed for many soldiers during the war I suppose."

"Of course. How did you think I collected the money to repay you? Funny how all that wealth your family made during the war is now gone."

"It is not all gone. Look where you are woman! It just...less than it was. And it is all your fault!"

Inara laughed. "My fault? Please."

"Yes, your fault. After my father died, no one would do business with me or my family. I was dishonored by you and made to pay for your treachery."

Now Inara did turn livid and rose to face him. "Don't you dare speak of treachery! After what you did to my father!"

"You broke the vows! I did not! Your family had to pay the penalty for your refusal to stay by my side as my lawful wife!"

"My father died!" Inara said, and she would have cried if she hadn't been so filled with rage.

"Through no fault of mine! He was old and ill."

"You took everything from him! He was devastated! Our family ruined by you! That is why no one will do business with you. You forced your father to ruin mine."

Paulo stood next her face to face and the anger seethed through them both. "Your father frittered away your bride price before the wedding on his failed attempts at expanding his business. He was already ruined before my father took the rest of it away. Your refusal to stay here as my wife and your subsequent career as a whore destroyed my reputation. I had to have some satisfaction."

"Why, Paulo, why?! I don't love you! I never have! That is why I ran away. I was only fifteen years old when I learned I was already married to you!"

And then she saw his face and she knew why and it was something she knew all along. "But you love me, don't you?"

He slumped to the sofa and said nothing. "Paulo, there are so many woman on Sihnon who would have taken your hand. You could have had your divorce years ago, have put this behind us."

"They are not you," he said in a bare whisper.

"I cannot be your wife. Nor your lover. It is too late for amends."

"Because of what has happened to your family? And because you love Reynolds?"

She didn't say anything and he stood and looked at her and his anger was back. "I know you love him. You cannot protect him by hiding your feelings for him. I will duel with him and the best man will win."

"Then I fear you will die," Inara said and Paulo just glared at her and turned and left her alone.

Inara collapsed on the sofa and thought on the strange and torturous path that had led her to these two rooms. Paulo was right, her father had never been good at business. Inara was sold to Paulo as a bride; there was no other way to put it. It was an accepted practice among the elites of Sihnon. Except her family hadn't been an elite family. Her father had been a designer of high end fashion shoes and had a small business manufacturing and selling them. He tried to enter their ranks for years but they always snubbed him as the "cobbler" and he felt the only way to achieve status was to marry his daughter to an elite family. The only thing he had of value was his beautiful daughter's hand in marriage. Many had sought her out for their sons and he chose the Chase family because with Inara married to Paulo Chase, they would be accepted by elite society. The secret pact was made when Inara was thirteen years old and he received the bride price. But he lost it all, gone in bad investments and too much trust in devious business partners.

Inara's mother was but a memory, had died long ago when she was an infant, Inara's beauty one thing her mother had bequeath her. But she also had a stubborn streak, something Inara developed too and when she was told at age fifteen that she was legally married to Paulo Chase and would now join him as his legal bride, she rebelled. He was a handsome sort of fellow, five years her senior, but Inara was headstrong and wanted no part of this and decided to run away. It was a foolish act in retrospect, the act of a child who knew not the ways of the world, knew not what would result because of her actions. She had some friends, who hid her out in their houses, but this only lasted several weeks before Paulo's family detectives found her. She was brought back to the Chase family mansion and held in confinement, much as she was now.

But she refused the marriage bed, no matter what Paulo tried. Finally, she managed to sneak out of the mansion, told the police what had happened and despite the Chase family wealth and connections, a judge ordered them to stay away from Inara and for the two of them to divorce. Inara would have gladly but Paulo and his family refused because once divorced the bride price was forfeited. However, if the bride refused to sleep in the marriage bed or to live with her husband, by law the bride price could be recovered. The Chase family had legal grounds to recover the bride price as long as there was no divorce. On Sihnon both parties had to agree to a divorce. The law was written to protect families from being swindled by those who accepted the marriage and the bride price and then wanted a divorce soon after the money and vows were exchanged. Only after continuous co-habitation of ten years could a divorce be granted without both parties agreeing.

Inara's father never blamed her for what happened, only himself for not telling her sooner what he had done and his failure to realize that his daughter was as beautiful and stubborn as her mother had been. After the loss of the fortune Paulo's family had given, her father went downhill, drinking to excess. Paulo's father demanded the return of the bride price when Inara had refused to live with her husband. There was nothing to return. They took her father's small shop and factory where he had been making and selling fashionable shoes for decades, took his apartment, took everything until he was alone in a shelter for old men, becoming more ill, until doctors diagnosed chronic heart disease. Within a year he was dead.

Inara had sheltered with friends, tried to find work, but at every turn the Chase family blocked her, put out the word to not employ her. Paulo sent her flowers by the dozens, implored her to return to him, but any chance of that died with her father. And then Paulo learned she had started the training to be a Companion.

It happened after they had lost the apartment and her father was already deathly ill. An all day search for work turned up nothing but a lot of "sorry dear, you are too young and have no skills", and a few attempts to get her to give away her sexual favors to lecherous men in positions of power. Alone in the world, she was discovered crying on a street by an elderly woman driving past in a luxurious car. She offered Inara a lift and Inara, footsore and without the money for transportation, accepted.

"This is a nice car," she said, feeling self conscious in her second hand clothing. The only thing nice she had were the shoes her father had made and the woman noticed them immediately, recognizing them as her father's brand.

"Oh, he's quite famous with the ladies. We all love his shoes."

"What ladies?"

"Companions, of course, my dear."

"You're a…Companion?"

"Yes. Actually I am the local House Mistress. I train Companions."

"My father's shoes are famous with the…ladies?"

"Yes. I supposed him to be a very wealthy man. But to see you, alone on the street…"

"He has no head for business and now…." Inara couldn't say it and started crying again. She told the House Mistress the whole story and soon found herself eating a lovely meal and having tea inside the Companion Guild House.

"My father would kill me if he saw me here," Inara said.

The House Mistress was slightly amused. "Well, dear, I didn't want to say this earlier but…he has been here quite a bit himself."

Inara was shocked. "My father…here?"

"Yes. And I've had my eye on you, too. I must confess, I know the whole story about you and Paulo Chase."

Inara put down her tea cup and was suspicious. "You were following me, weren't you?"

"Very bright your father said you were and I knew he was right."

"You didn't pick me up by chance, did you?"

"No. I've wanted to have this chat with you for some time. I want you to join us."

"Become a whore?!" Inara said in shock and immediately she knew she had insulted the House Mistress. "I'm sorry."

"Quite alright, dear. We don't use that term around here. We are not…that word. We are Companions, ladies and gentlemen who provide a service. We are ambassadors of pleasure and as such are highly trained and highly rewarded. And I think you will make a wonderful addition to our Guild."

Inara didn't accept that day. But soon after her father's funeral, which the House Mistress paid for, she did return to the Guild House. She had no where else to go. She was sixteen years old, almost seventeen, had no one in the world and no skills. That soon changed and within two years she was eagerly sought after by the men, and some women, of Sihnon. The Chase family sought to have her expelled from the planet, the shame of their heir apparent married to a woman in such a position. Inara told them to give her a divorce and this would not be a problem. But the head of the family had died and their fortunes plummeted within him. Paulo had made too many enemies with his duels and with the way he had treated Inara's father. Her father did have friends, friends who hadn't tried to swindle him, and he was respected as a master shoe craftsman by many women who had powerful husbands. Paulo, his family fortune dwindling, stubbornly refused a divorce until she paid him all of the money still owed.

And so here she was, trapped in two rooms, behind walls and locked doors and windows with bars on them. She thought of seducing Paulo and knew it would be easy but the thought also revolted her. Then she noticed the Cortex screen, still on the small table, and she didn't know if he had left it because he was too angry to care or he left it knowing she'd try to warn Mal and he hoped Mal would come.

Inara fought with these ideas for a few moments and then turned to the wave page on the screen. She had to warn Mal. She composed a long message and then sent it off to Serenity for Kaylee, hoping she knew a way to get it to Mal.

* * *

"Message for Mrs. Frye," said the pilot as he glanced at Serenity's Cortex screen on the bridge. They were still more than two hours away from Ariel, Kaylee and Oren both agreeing that an FTL run in the space corridors around Ariel too risky to chance seeing as someone was out there looking for a Firefly named Serenity. The ship had a transponder, with the fake name Utopia. Kaylee had come up with it after asking Simon what another word was for paradise, the name she had wanted to use, but that was already a ship name in the data base.

Kaylee was with her husband and friends in the dining area, catching up on what had happened to them, with the usual several guards listening in. Mal had given a brief report to Oren who had sent a message to the Ariel military and police describing the ship that had attacked Serenity II and to be on the look out for it.

"So they was dumb enough to come in the airlock?" Kaylee asked in surprise.

"Yeah," said Jayne. "So we gave 'em a few grenades to keep 'em company."

"Some folks just can't be trusted," Mal said, half in jest. Just then a soldier came in and told Kaylee about the message, and as she stood up to go to the bridge the ship shook and shuddered and suddenly lurched to one side and then the other and she was almost thrown off her feet. They all ran to the bridge, to hell with Oren's orders not to be there.

"What's happening?" Mal asked the pilot.

The pilot looked around confused and shaken. "What's…Who are…?'

Then came a beeping sound and Wash pointed at the screen. "Missile lock! Turn!"

The pilot froze and just stared at the screen and Jayne just grabbed the pilot by the collar and pulled him out as Wash leaped into the seat. He turned the ship in a wide left turn just as a missile streaked past them.

"Gorramnit that was close," cursed Jayne. Just then Oren came on the bridge with two soldiers.

"You aren't permitted to be here!" he shouted. "Get that man out of that pilot's chair."

"Stop!" Mal yelled to the soldier approaching Wash and also to Zoe who was about to slug him. Mal turned to Oren. "We're under attack by someone and Wash is best chance we got."

"Attacked?" said Oren incredulously. "By who?"

"Looks like same fellows as last time," Wash said, looking at the rear vids. "Must have read our high burst wave to Kaylee and recognized her name and waited for…"

"Yeah, we get it, Wash, just fly the gorramn ship!" Jayne yelled as a crackling blue bolt of EMP shot past them.

"Kaylee, engine room," Mal ordered and she was gone in an instant. "Everyone else strap in!"

"I am in command here, Captain Reynolds!" Oren shouted.

"You ain't going be in command of much in a few seconds! Now strap in!" Mal shouted. Oren just glared at him and then he and everyone else ran for the dining area as Mal got on the mic and warned the rest of the ship to strap in. Mal jumped into the co-pilot's seat before the Alliance pilot could, so he sat in the third seat.

"Where to?" Wash asked Mal.

"Anywhere but here," Mal said and he saw Wash punched in the name "Paquin" into the Frye drive laptop hooked up to the nav system, and gave Mal a sly wink. In seconds the computer, using the fixed nav sat system, calculated the correct course.

"All ready, Wash!" came Kaylee's confident words from the engine room and Wash hit it.

In seconds with a blur and a pop and creak and groan Serenity shot to just below light speed and popped away from the Ariel system and their by now frustrated pursuers. A long ten seconds tumbling ride later they popped back into space.

"Welcome to Paquin," Mal said with a grin to Wash.

* * *

River awoke with a start and suddenly realized she was naked and alone. Janice was gone. In a panic River leaped out of bed and to her surprise she found her knife and pistols still sitting on the wooden dresser. She grabbed her dress from the floor and was pulling it over her head when the door opened and Janice walked in, barefoot and wearing just a blue, almost see-through, dress.

"Hi, sleepy head. Breakfast is ready," Janice said.

River thought about grabbing her guns and turning on her but then that thought was replaced by the strangest feeling and suddenly she couldn't find her voice and felt all shy and awkward. Janice walked over to her and put her hands on River's shoulders, stroked her arms in a loving caress. "It's okay. I understand what it's like the first time…its…"

"Wonderful," River said in a breathless voice, finally looking her lover in the eye. "I…never…in my whole life…anything like that."

Janice beamed. "You were…how did you know, where to touch me, where to, how to, I…God, you were amazing!"

"It was like we were one person," River said. "I could feel your sensations as part of mine. I could tell when you were feeling the greatest pleasure, because I could feel your pleasure, in my mind."

"That's incredible," Janice said in stunned amazement. "I'm still trembling. And I am starving. I found some food. Let's eat."

River looked at the guns and knives and Janice looked at them, too. "Why didn't you take them, tie me up?" River asked.

"I…I…couldn't, not after…after what we have done, I just couldn't."

No more was said. River left the guns and the knife where they were and they went to breakfast. It was fried eggs and some sausage and bread with some coffee and apple juice. They talked about their families and River told her the whole story of what happened to her and about Simon rescuing her, and said he was now married but she didn't know where he was. Nothing was said about Serenity or Earth or the FTL drive. Janice could sense some gaps in the story but didn't press.

"Have you had many lovers?" River asked suddenly, as they sipped their coffee.

Janice smiled. "Only one that I loved. The woman I dreamed about. She was a pilot instructor, about ten years older than me. We couldn't be open, not in the military, so when I finished pilot training we ended it, hoping we'd be together again someday, but knowing that would be difficult. I still keep in touch. Since her, a few others, on the Saratoga, but it's hard to have any privacy on a warship."

"Am I a lesbian?" River asked quietly and Janice frowned, wondering when this question would come up.

"God I hate labels, why do people have to label everything."

"Sorry," River said.

"No, I'm sorry. Just a beef I have with society. Well, do you like boys…I mean men?" Janice asked.

"Ah, sure…yes, I'm sure I do," River said, and she was really sure, fondly remembering kissing the nice handsome scientist from the moon and Earth.

"Then no, you aren't like me. I've known I prefer girls since I was about 12 years old."

"Then, what am I?" For all her training and intelligence, River had no answers for this question.

Janice took her hand and squeeze. "You are a wonderful person who has a lot of soul and love in your heart. Don't try to think on what you are. Just enjoy the moments we had together."

"That sounds nice."

After a few moments of silence River suddenly felt something shift inside her, felt out of place and knew that the madness was coming back. She held it down tight with her mind, fought it and then knew it was time to go, before this wonderful person saw that she wasn't all right in the head.

River wanted to say sorry first and it came out wrong, in a long stream of words. "I'm so sorry I kidnapped you and took you away from your ship and friends and made you watch me kill that man and tie you up and yell at you, I am so sorry."

Janice was taken aback at first but could see that she honestly was sorry. "Apology accepted."

"And I'm sorry that I have to go," River said quickly as she stood and Janice wasn't ready for that.

"Go?" she asked in puzzlement.

"It'll be dawn soon. The Alliance will find this ship. If we try to move it they will find it. I must go." River said in a fast talking stream. "I can't stay. People will die. Maybe you…I couldn't live with that."

"Calm down, River. No one else has to die. Where will you go? When we landed there was nothing around here, nothing for hundreds of miles but forests and lakes and canyons and mountains."

"I'll walk out. I'll be fine."

"No, you won't. You will die out there."

"I can't stay. They will find me…and kill me and I will kill them. That's what they do, what I do."

"You don't have to."

"They won't let me be anything else. I have to go."

Janice could see River was determined to leave and, not quite believing she was saying the words, she offered a solution. As River paced and listened, Janice could sense that River believed her and knew River could tell if she was lying. After a long talk, River calmed down and they set the plan in motion.

* * *

"Contact!" yelled a sensor board operator on a small Alliance patrol ship above Paquin. "Ship rising from a forest, 123 kilometers to the south of the Dufferin Range."

Suddenly a voice came from the ship's comms. "This is Flying Officer Janice Flowers of the Saratoga, do not fire, do not fire. I have managed to escape from my captor. She is still on the ground. Request orders."

"Roger, Officer Flowers, good to hear from you. Stand by."

The lieutenant in charge of the gunship passed on the news to the Saratoga and they sent back orders. "Flowers, land at Santos City spaceport on the far side of the planet. That freighter's owner is looking for it. Request coordinates of last known position of fugitive River Tam."

* * *

Janice gave them the grid reference and received the word that search teams were being landed. As she turned the ship toward the far side of the planet, she looked over at River in the co-pilot's seat. Janice was back in her uniform and River kept the purple dress and had on her black boots with her weapons strapped on.

"They'll be waiting for me, want to debrief me," Janice said and then sadly added. "We won't see each other again."

"I know," said River. "But I will always have the memory of our time together. Was it worth you breaking your oath as an officer to help me?"

Janice smiled. "You're darn right it was. And River, you are a victim here. I believe your story. What they did to you…I can't imagine."

They were silent for a long time as the craft flew on over fields and forests and then small villages and towns and farmer's fields and finally an urban area appeared on the horizon as they approached Santos City. Janice found a clear spot in a small forest a few miles from the city and got lower and lower until they were hovering a few feet over the ground. They looked at each other and River leaned over and gave her a long lingering kiss that left them both breathless and aching for more. "I'll never forget you," River said and then she was gone, leaving Janice Flowers all alone.

River ran to the back, picked up her backpack, and then Janice lowered the cargo bay ramp from the cockpit. In a swift move River leaped to the ground and then was gone into the treeline. As the Katya rose and moved off toward Santos City, River stopped and put on her backpack. She looked up at the ship and smiled. "Thank you," she said to herself and then she was running, running once again, running where she knew not, but running was far better than waiting for the Alliance to find her and kill her.


	5. Chapter 5

_River gets a little help from her friends, Simon uncovers a new problem, and Jayne's life takes a whole new direction._

**River's Run – Part 5 **

"He's not talking," the ground force commander said to the captain of the Saratoga. "He said he wants a deal on his prison term if he tells us anything about River Tam."

"We do not make deals with prisoners," the captain said. "Tell Mr. Patterson that he can talk or he can starve and have his pain medication for that leg injury cut off."

"Yes, sir."

"Any word from the search teams?"

"Nothing yet. They've covered the area Flowers gave us, but Tam must be long gone. We've expanded the search and have infrared scanners on low flying ships searching. Nothing but wild game, no humans, no settlements of any kind, nothing for hundreds of kilometers. It would be very difficult to survive out there for long. She could be dead for all we know."

"I doubt it," the captain said. "Not after the way she handled our troops, took an officer hostage, infiltrated a spaceport, stole a freighter and knew enough to disable another freighter and all the comms in the spaceport. I've been reading the report from the freighter crew. The captain said Tam didn't even flinch when bullets were flying around her. Something about this fugitive is not right. Fleet headquarters wants her bad but won't tell us why. Who is River Tam?"

The commander had no answer.

The captain grunted. "I guess we'll know soon enough. Very well. Get down there yourself and coordinate things. But first go see Flowers in Santos City and find out what the hell happened and then get her back here for a proper de-briefing."

"Yes, sir," the commander said and then he was gone.

"Sir, we have a Firefly class vessel entering the approach corridor for Paquin," a sensor tech shouted out. "Transponder reads it as the Utopia….it checks out."

"Very well. Let it pass. We are only interested in ships leaving the planet, not heading for it."

* * *

"What's the Saratoga doing out here?" Captain Oren asked the pilot of Serenity aka Utopia as they went past the large cruiser, visible in the cockpit windows.

"Do you want me to contact them, sir?" the pilot asked.

"No, we aren't supposed to be here and we certainly do not want any attention. Once Reynolds and his people have been landed on Paquin we shall make a run for Taos."

* * *

"Can't be done," said Kaylee in a low whisper. "I won't do it."

They were in the infirmary, all six of them, Simon giving the three refugees medical checks for decompression sickness after their ordeal on Serenity II. Mal was on the examining table with his shirt off as Simon checked his lungs and heart rate, which was rising as he got angry.

"I ain't asking you to bust anything permanent," Mal said to Kaylee. "Just…a little, enough to fool them."

"I can't!" she protested. "They'll never believe me anyways."

"That Oren guy…he's an engineer?" Zoe asked.

"No, but two others are and they'll know how to fix whatever I break right aways."

"She's right," Wash said from where he was sitting on the bench. "We can't fool them. Oren will want to taken Serenity back to Taos."

"Bet he's in enough hot water already," Zoe added.

"Since when do we care about an Alliance scum getting into trouble?" Jayne asked with a grunt.

"We don't," Mal said. "But it's the only way to take the ship and still seem like we have kept to our deal."

"Why do you need us to stick around for, Mal?" Simon asked and more than one of them had that thought.

Mal knew that this question would come up and he had an answer. "Cause this ship is the fastest in the verse. I'm kinda getting used to having it to haul our ashes out of the fire, like it just did. Being in a busted ship on an airless moon ain't no fun. Sides, I miss her and Kaylee."

"Sweet talk ain't gonna get me to hurt my baby," Kaylee said with a frown, but she smiled a second later. And then her face lit up in surprise. "Oh, I got a message!"

After their little escape from the scavengers, Kaylee had forgotten about the message that she had been on the way to the bridge to see when they were attacked. Without another word she raced upstairs to the bridge and in a few moments had the message up on the side Cortex screen, volume down low so the pilot and Oren couldn't hear it. It turned out it was from Inara to Kaylee's delight and then consternation.

"Kaylee, you must contact Mal. Tell him…tell him that I must delay meeting him on Shadow. I have to take care of more things here than I expected. And there's no need to meet me on Sihnon, it won't be but a few days. I'm sure he is busy taking care of that other matter we discussed. There is also no need to contact me. I hope all is well. Bye for now."

Kaylee was puzzled by the message but went back to the infirmary and told Mal and he demanded to see the message so she let him. Oren gave him permission to be on the bridge, something that galled Mal to no end. After their escape, Oren thanked him for his quick actions and promised to set them down on Paquin at a spaceport, but asserted his command of the ship and decided to stay on the bridge in case of any more problems.

Mal sat down as Kaylee stood by his side and he saw the message from Inara. Mal was glad to see Inara, even if it was just a message, and felt even better when Kaylee finally got around to telling him Inara knew what he was doing and she had forgiven him. But then things got a bit odder.

"Why wouldn't she want me contacting her"? Mal asked, something in him suddenly suspicious.

"Don't know," Kaylee replied. "Let's call her at the Guild House anyways, say hello. The address is on the bottom of the screen."

"Yeah," Mal said, distracted as he hit the reply button. The Cortex screen said they were too far away for face to face and asked if he wanted to leave a message. Before he could click the right button, Kaylee stopped him cold.

"Who's Paulo Chase?" she asked and then pointed to the name on the return wave address.

"Paulo Chase?" Mal said as he read the name on the screen. She wasn't at the Guild House. "Never heard of him."

Kaylee shrugged. "Me, neither."

But Oren knew, not completely deaf to their conversation, since he was in charge and had to be wary of Kaylee receiving any messages now that she was so well known. "Ah, the Chase family of Sihnon. Very old, one of the original families from Earth That Was. Wealthy, involved in many businesses." Then he chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Mal asked, his eyes narrowing as he stood and faced Oren with Kaylee at his side, the reply to Inara forgotten.

"Oh, just…well, it's not my place to spread rumors," Oren replied, suddenly on his guard.

"Oh, gossip!" Kaylee said with enthusiasm. "Tell us. Please!"

"Yes," Mal said with some low menace in his tone. "Please."

Oren paused and then looked at Mal and he knew Reynolds wouldn't give up till he told him.

"There was this old story, about Paulo Chase. That his family had arranged his marriage to a…whore."

As soon as that word was out and related to Inara, Kaylee knew what would happen. She grabbed Mal's arm before he could raise it and her gentle touch helped calm him.

"Did this…woman…have a name?" Mal asked with an edge of anger to his voice.

Oren could see that something wasn't right, could feel Reynolds' barely contained anger, could see Kaylee's hand suddenly holding Reynolds' right arm. "No, I mean, I don't know."

"What's the story about this marriage?" Kaylee asked, more to deflect the tension between Oren and her Capt'n but also because she was very curious.

"The Chase family arraigned a marriage between Paulo Chase, the oldest son and heir, to a young girl, very beautiful by all accounts. Except she rejected him and ran away. Chase's family ruined hers and they were poverty stricken and so she became a…a lady who sells her favors. Apparently, the Chase family fortune declined because of this scandal. That's all I know. Maybe it is just a rumor."

Mal relaxed somewhat. Maybe it was just a story. "So, they were never married."

"Ah, no, not exactly," Oren said. "The marriage was arraigned between the families and the papers signed. It is an old custom from the early days of colonization when there were fears of a decline in population if marriages were left to the strange currents of love. Many planets have kept the tradition."

"Then they must have gotten a divorce?" Kaylee offered, knowing what the Capt'n was thinking.

"Perhaps," said Oren. "After all, it is just a story. But…"

He stopped. "But what?" Mal asked, getting mad again.

"Chase is said to be an expert with a sword and has fought duels over the years whenever anyone insulted his marriage to…that woman. Why would he get insulted and why would anyone mention it if they had divorced long ago?"

* * *

"Maybe he is just an old acquaintance," Zoe offered. "You know, she did have a life before she came on board Serenity."

They were in the passenger lounge now, Mal silent, the others wondering what it all meant. He gave Kaylee the OK to tell the story and the others were as puzzled as they were.

"A life we don't know much about," Simon said absently and then saw Kaylee give him a dirty look and realized he made a mistake. "But I'm sure Zoe's right. Just an old acquaintance."

"Maybe an old client," Wash said and realized he had also made a mistake when both his wife and Kaylee shot daggers at him. "Hey! I mean…sorry."

"It's OK, Wash," Mal said. "I know she's had many…clients…in her past."

"Hell," Jayne said. "Maybe nothin' to it. Just that officer screwing with your mind. He don't like you taking over his ship. That's all it is."

"Maybe," Mal said. "But I didn't ask him about Chase. He just told us."

"So," Kaylee said after a long uncomfortable silence. "What now?"

"Forget busting the engine," Mal said and then he looked at Zoe. "Can you do it?"

"Yes, sir," Zoe said without hesitation. "We'll find her, get her somewhere safe."

"My sister?" Simon asked with hope. "But…if you find her, where is safe?"

Mal nodded. "I'm thinking Hera, Badger's cousin's shop. Somewhere out of the way."

"For how long?" Simon asked and he knew there was no answer.

"Until we can make things right," Mal said. "I still got those vids from Miranda."

"You try to broadcast them, they will kill us this time," Wash said and no one disagreed with him.

"And you, sir" Zoe asked after a long silence. "Where will you be?"

"After we land and you get settled I'm booking the next ship to Sihnon."

* * *

Not five moments after Inara had sent the message to Serenity did Paulo return to the room and remove the Cortex screen. He didn't say a word but he had a look of satisfaction on his face and Inara knew she had made a mistake. She should have contacted the Guild House, the police, anyone except Mal. She guessed that Paulo had monitored her wave, knew what she had said, but he still seemed satisfied. Inara knew Mal wouldn't stay away, was too stubborn for that, and maybe she had led him to his death. If that happened she would never forgive herself.

The hours passed and food was brought to her by a servant, just a cold meal of a sandwich and fruit and water, no utensils, no knife she could use to stab her captor in the heart, if he even had one. She tried to charm the elderly male servant but he barely acknowledged her and Inara guessed he was well trained and had been with the Chase family for a long time. She knew Paulo had two younger brothers and a sister somewhere. Were they in this house also? Did they agree with what he was doing or did they even know?

Now Inara had wished she had waved the Head Mistress instead of Serenity. She had the power to do something about Paulo Chase. She knew many secrets, had many connections, and could compel the powers that be to release her. Then again if Paulo had been monitoring her wave, he would not have allowed her to send a message to anyone but Serenity. How long will it take for Mal to get the message, to come here? Days? Weeks? Maybe they were caught up with trying to find River. She hoped he would stay away and also hoped he would come. So much was uncertain.

Inara was on the verge of panic but calmed herself and let her training take over. I can't just wait for things to happen, I have to act, Inara thought to herself. There was only one thing to do, the one thing that would give her some measure of freedom and allow her to possibly escape. As odious as it sounded, she would have to do it. She would have to seduce Paulo Chase.

* * *

"She left the ship," Flying Office Janice Flowers told the ground search commander at the spaceport of Santos City on Paquin. They were in a military post attached at the spaceport, Flowers drinking coffee, as they sat at a table, a device on the table recording the debriefing "I was tied up, but the bounds were not strong so one hand came free. I made my way to the bridge. I realized she was off the ship, so I closed the cargo bay ramp and took off."

"That's it?" the commander asked suspiciously.

Janice was a bit surprised at this comment but forced herself to remain calm. "Yes, sir. That's it."

"It seems odd that this fugitive would make such a mistake. So far she has done everything right to evade us."

"Sorry, sir, but what mistake did she make?"

"Leaving a pilot alone in ship and doing such a poor job of confining you."

"Perhaps it wasn't a mistake. Perhaps she wanted to leave the ship since it is so easy to track."

"Yes, I've thought of that," the commander said. "Then why didn't she kill you so she would have more time to evade us?"

Janice was silent for a moment, looking at her coffee cup, avoiding the commander's eyes. "Maybe she is tired of killing. Sir."

"I don't think so. She seems entirely too efficient at it for it to be something she can give up so easily. She killed three people at Port Williams on the third moon. Explain what happened there."

Janice told the story of how she was captured and what happened in the spaceport. The memories of River came to her in a vivid flash, especially her killing of the spaceport administrator. She was a cold, ruthless killer one day, a shy but sensual lover that night, and a scared girl in the morning. No one knew who River was, not even herself.

"And then on this ship…the Katya…what happened there?"

Janice looked at him steadily. "Like I said, sir, we landed, she tied me up, I tried to get some rest and when I awoke I freed myself and took off."

"What did she say?"

"About what, sir?"

"Anything at all could be helpful in finding her."

"I've told you everything." Well, not everything, certainly not that River could read minds. Janice wouldn't tell them that anyway, but if she had, who would believe her? "Why haven't we found her yet?" Janice asked. "I mean, I thought it would be easy, since we have infrared sensors."

"Yes, it would seem to be an easy task. Unless we are looking in the wrong place."

"The coordinates I gave were accurate, sir."

"Yes, we found the imprints of a ship landing and the burn marks of the same ship taking off. Trouble is, there is no sign that anyone walked out of there."

"Maybe she has special training like us, sir. Maybe she isn't just an escaped prisoner."

"Of that we are certain. But all we know is that she is accused of high treason, but not the details. So, did she say anything, anything at all about why she was a prisoner or about her background?"

"No, sir. Like I said, she just told me what to do…and I did it." Janice looked a bit ashamed and embarrassed.

"Now, now, Flowers, no need to worry. You've done a good job. You survived. The Alliance has spent a lot of money on your training and we need good pilots. No one blames you for what happened at the spaceport."

"Thank you, sir."

"I think a few days off will do you good. You will rejoin the Saratoga. A shuttle is waiting for you."

"Sir, what about Ri…the fugitive?"

"What about her?"

"What will happen if…when they find her?"

"The orders remain the same. We have orders to shoot her on sight."

* * *

'What's it called?" Simon asked as he stood at the top of Serenity's cargo bay ramp.

"Santos City, main spaceport of Paquin," Mal said as he breathed fresh air deep into his lungs, glad to be doing so once again after their recent close call on the airless sixth moon of Ariel. It was a cloudy day and rain threatened, but Mal didn't care, feeling glad to be alive and knowing once again he had beaten the odds. As he thought on this he also thought on Inara and he wished like hell he knew what was going on with her.

They were at a spaceport, the ship landing in the late morning, having no trouble with their transponder sign of Utopia. Oren was nervous, his guards wary as they stood just inside the cargo bay, trying not to bring any attention to the ship. Zoe, Jayne, and Wash had their bags with them, including their weapons that had been returned, ready to leave. Mal didn't want to leave, but Oren had refused to take him to Sihnon or Taos and Mal didn't want to cause any more trouble for Simon and Kaylee. He thought over and over how he could take the ship without making a fuss and there was just no way. Either someone would get hurt or killed or Kaylee and Simon and all of them would be in hot water or, more than likely, both. Once again the Alliance was kicking Mal off of his…their…ship and he didn't like it one bit.

Mal and Simon turned back to the cargo bay and Kaylee was there saying good bye to the others.

"Thanks little Kaylee," Mal said as they hugged. "You go home now and don't worry on us. We'll be fine."

"Yes, Capt'n. You keep in touch, no matter where you go. You know where we'll be…if you need us." The last was said in a whisper, so no nearby guards could hear. Mal grinned, knowing he could count on her and Simon if it came to trouble again.

Simon fretted as he watched them leave, dying to go with them to help find River, but he knew Oren would not allow it since he was as well known as his wife now since the vid of their landing on Taos made the Cortex news. He was sure there were plenty of ruthless people who would kidnap him to force Kaylee to help them build a Frye drive. It had only been a little more than a week since River had sent the plans over the Cortex but soon many would come to the same conclusion: building the damn thing was awfully hard. Serenity II's brush with that scavenger ship reinforced their worries of someone trying to steal Serenity or kidnap Kaylee.

"Say, Doc," Jayne asked quietly as he shouldered his duffel bag of guns. "What kind of reward we expect if we find your sister?"

Simon was taken aback and glance worried eyes toward Oren and his men. "I think we should discuss that later."

"Just don't like working least I know how much it's for."

"You know my parents are very wealthy and will pay…substantially."

Jayne grinned. "Well, that sounds fine. Just give me a substantial number."

"Jayne!" Zoe said from the ramp. "Time to go."

"Yes," Oren said. "We have to leave before someone finds out what ship this is."

Jayne grunted and then moved off with his bag of guns and his other bag with his few personal belongings and the swag from the Melbourne banks. Simon almost laughed, wondering just how much money would ever make Jayne Cobb happy.

Last quick goodbyes were made and then the ramp came up and Simon and Kaylee were alone again. In moments the order was given to take off and shortly after that they were in the black.

* * *

"Utopia, Utopia," came a call on the radio. "This is the Alliance cruiser Saratoga. Stop and prepare to be boarded."

Oren had just come on the bridge when he heard this. He quickly snatched the mic from the pilot who was about to reply.

"Saratoga this is Utopia. What is the reason for the search?"

"Looking for a dangerous fugitive. Comply or you will be fired on."

As they looked out the windows they could see fighters approaching. "Should we run, sir?" the pilot asked, itching to try some pointers Wash gave him for evading trouble in the future.

"No," said Oren. "There are too many ships about and I don't want anyone to see us use the drive. Also, we can't risk damage to this ship. We'll dock and I will go aboard and explain to their captain."

Fifteen minutes later Oren was standing before the Saratoga's captain in his bridge office, the search of Utopia put on hold when the boarding party was surprised to find the ship filled with Alliance troops and officers.

"I'm sorry, Captain Oren, but no one told us of your mission."

"It's classified, Captain. Our movements must be kept a secret. We are testing the new drive. I'm sure you've heard about it."

"Who hasn't? Quite an amazing coincidence."

"Sorry? Coincidence?"

"Yes. I saw on the news reports that the inventor of the drive, Kaylee Frye, is married to Simon Tam from Osiris. The fugitive we are looking for, her last name is also Tam. Also from Osiris."

"River Tam, his sister," Oren replied and something strange about this information gnawed at him but the captain was talking again before the pieces clicked into place.

"Sister? But…I don't know what is going on."

"I only know bits and pieces. River Tam was the one who put the Frye drive plans on the Cortex. That's why she was arrested and is now wanted."

"Very unusual business, Oren. Admiral Shin has taken a keen interest in her. Sending us some special people to handle the matter. Be an awful black eye if I don't wrap things up before they arrive. Anything you can tell me will be appreciated."

"About Tam? Oh, there's nothing I know beyond what I've told you. Her brother is a nice fellow and his wife is brilliant, of course, when it comes to mechanical things. But…that's why Paquin!"

"What about Paquin?"

Oren almost grinned, now knowing he had something on Reynolds. "There is something I can tell you about River Tam after all."

* * *

It took River a few hours to reach the spaceport of Santos City. The hard part was getting through the first area of forest where Janice had dropped her off. River ran and had to cross a few streams and over some tree covered hills. The exercise was invigorating and she felt good. Her knee injury she had gotten from Maston Forbes was finally healed and running had always been her favorite exercise at the academy. From a high hill she stopped and did some recon, and could see the small city in the distance and saw where ships were taking off and landing. After a half an hour of recon and resting, she started again and managed to find a road and walked along it until the first houses and buildings started to appear.

Traffic was light and no one stopped to offer her a ride. No one bothered her or even glanced at her as she walked through the streets. Her pistols and knife were in her backpack so as to not cause any undue attention. The morning sunshine started to disappear as clouds came from the other side of the city. She decided to head for the spaceport to see if there was anyway she could infiltrate it and sneak aboard a ship. As she got closer she found a park which was on a slight hill and gave her a good view of the spaceport over the tops of some buildings. River stopped and sat on a bench, and took out some food and water and thought on her next move as she ate.

River's training told her that she had two options. Number one was to lay low until those who sought her gave up or she eliminated them. Option two was to seek to evade her searchers by leaving the area. In this case it meant leaving the planet. River knew that the searchers were not going to stop and to eliminate them would not work since they were so numerous. She also knew the Saratoga was probably still out there in the black, searching vessels leaving the planet. So River came up with a third option. Find a place to lay low permanently.

This meant several things. First, she would have to disguise her appearance in some way. By now her photo was with the police and military forces of Paquin. She could cut and dye her hair, get contacts for her eyes, fatten up a bit. If they had facial recognition scanners none of this would work, but as long as she stayed away from high tech buildings or the spaceport, she might be able to fool random check points. Second, she would need shelter, food, and money. All could be obtained if one had employment. To get employment one usually needed a proper ID card. River did not have one nor could get one because she had no money to pay someone to make one even if she knew where such a person was on Paquin.

So, that meant illegal jobs. She nixed prostitution right away since she could never stomach the idea. Hired killer was right up her ally but it would take time to get acquainted with the local lowlifes and also that kind of work attracted attention. She almost laughed when she thought of the idea of setting herself up as a psychic mind reader. That would also draw attention as she was sure she'd do a good job and become famous. Finally, there was computer work, surveillance, infiltration, all covert operations which River was well trained in. Perhaps even some kind of investigator. River Tam, PI. Nah, that would also draw attention.

River was stumped, something she wasn't used to and it frustrated her. As she looked back toward the spaceport her feelings suddenly swung the other way. A ship was landing, a Firefly. As River gazed at it all her memories came flooding back and one became very vivid.

"I'm sorry," her brother said with some sadness. "It's the only way."

"I understand. I'm going to sleep."

"I'll be there when you wake up," Simon said and then he kissed her and after a moment River felt a pinch on her arm and warmth flooded her body and she fell into a deep sleep. And then she was awake, on a strange ship, surrounded by strange people. But most of all she remembered the box she had traveled in. That was her way off Paquin. She would mail herself to…her parents!

No, the Alliance would be watching them. It couldn't be her parents or Simon or Kaylee or Inara or anyone connected with Serenity. It had to be someone no one knew. As River searched her memory one name and one address came to her and she smiled and knew it could work. Now she just needed some money and someone to help her.

Suddenly River's focus turned back to the spaceport and the Firefly. She could see it, in the far distance and the ramp was down and there was…Simon! And Mal!

River's heart leap to her throat and she wanted to stand and shout to them but she knew they couldn't hear her and knew she would just be bringing danger to them. Then everything shifted and River's mind began to slip to that place where she didn't want it to go. She tried to focus her thoughts, it taking all of her concentration. She could see Wash's blond hair and flowery shirt, Jayne's tall bulk hefting two heavy bags, Zoe's lithe from striding ahead of them, Mal close behind. All four stopped and watched as Serenity took off.

"Simon!" she screamed and then started to cry, wanting so badly to see her brother, to see Kaylee, and to see home…Serenity. A thousand emotions flooded River's brain and then one came into sharp focus…danger.

"Hey, little girl," said a man's voice. "Whatcha doing all by your lonesome in the park?"

"It's not very safe these days," said another voice, in Chinese. "Few people have been mugged here…and worse."

"Pretty little thing like her, I think she might be in for worse," said another voice.

River's mind cleared and knew what she had to do. She turned to them. There were four, all big. They looked like teens, and also had the look of street toughs. Two of them had knives, one a small pistol, and the last a large stick. No one else was around.

"I have something for you," River said with a smile as it began to rain.

* * *

"Gorramn rain," Jayne cursed as he ducked into hotel lobby just behind Mal, Zoe, and Wash. They had barely said goodbye to Serenity and were talking on their next move when the skies opened up and they and many others ran looking for shelter. Wash spotted the hotel and they all dashed inside. It was small, but neat and modern, with a lobby with some furniture and Cortex screens and a reception area with an Oriental man behind the counter.

"May I help you?" he asked in Chinese and in a few moments they had three rooms, one for Wash and Zoe and one each for Jayne and Mal, who didn't want to share a room with Jayne's snoring. Mal paid for them all with his money from the sale of Serenity and used his real name and ID for the check in since he wasn't wanted by the Alliance anymore and it was required by law. He took a long shower, thinking on what to do, wondering about this Paulo Chase and Inara. He had to go to Sihnon, had to check this out. But first he had to call the Guild House. Each room had a Cortex screen and after a few moments search he found the wave address. Again the distance was too great for face to face so he composed his message and sent it off. He had barely changed into some fresh clothes and was putting on his boots when there was a knock at his door. Thinking it was Zoe, Mal answered it without even looking through the eyehole to see who it was.

"Hello, Capt'n," River said in a weak voice and then she pitched forward and collapsed in his arms.

Mal got over his surprise and slammed the door shut, picked up River and carried her to the bed. She was soaking wet and blood came from above her forehead and trickled down her face.

Mal pounded on the wall of Jayne's room and in seconds the big merc was there and then gone to get Zoe and Wash. Soon they were all surrounding River as Zoe looked at her head wound.

"Bullet graze, small caliber, she might have a concussion," Zoe said, with years of experience of battle wounds behind her observation. River's eyes fluttered and she focused on Mal.

"River," Mal said gently. "What happened and where are you coming from?"

"And did anyone follow you?" Jayne asked as he stood by the door with pistol drawn.

"Snuck in," River said. "Good at sneaking in places. Saw you landing. Saw Simon. Felt…you." The last was for Mal.

"Who shot you?" Wash asked.

"Some kids," River said.

"Kids?" Zoe repeated in surprise. "Are they…dead?'

"Don't know. Maybe. I can't remember. I need Simon."

"He's gone, honey," Zoe told her. "He and Kaylee…the Alliance."

"How is he?"

"Worried…about you," Mal replied. "Hired us to find you. Guess we can't take his money cause you found us first."

"No gorramn way!" Jayne said. "We's here, she's here, that's the deal. And we still ain't off the planet yet. Doc'll see things my way, you wait and see."

"Now ain't the time to talk on this, Jayne," Zoe said sternly.

River sat up. "I'm cold…and wet. My bag…"

"You didn't have a bag," said Mal and he looked to Zoe.

"I'll get her some clothes," she said and then she opened the door and after a quick look in the hallway to make sure no one was there, she exited the room and was back in a moment. Mal helped River to the bathroom and ten minutes later she was dressed in a pair of Zoe's black jeans and a blue shirt. It was a bit big for her but would do for now. The bleeding had stopped but River had a hell of a headache.

She told them what happened in the park, how four teens had tried to rob her. She was sure at least two were dead, shot with her pistol. As she had reached into her bag and took out her pistol one of them shot at her. She didn't tell them but she sensed the round coming and dropped a few inches as it headed her way. That one was dead for sure, two rounds through the face. Another one ran off with her bag that she had dropped as the fight started, a third tired to stab her and got a bullet to the chest and the fourth had gotten a good kick in the head. She would have chased the one with her bag except someone had heard the shots and had come looking so River ran. Only as she got to a street did she realize her head was bleeding and she began to feel woozy. The heavy rain had emptied the streets so no one saw her, she hoped. She knew they were nearby, stretched out her mind, and sensed Mal, waited for a moment when the clerk was busy and then just walked in.

"You were thinking about Inara," River said to Mal.

"Yeah," Mal said quietly.

"All is not right."

"No, it ain't."

"Why are you on Paquin?" River suddenly asked.

"Following your trail of death and destruction," Jayne said almost in an admiring way.

They told River their story and she told them hers, of course leaving out certain parts that were none of their business. She told them she forced the pilot to drop her off near the city immediately after leaving the moon and she had made her way on foot. No mention was made of spending the previous night on the Katya.

"Shoulda killed her," said Jayne as he checked his pistol to make sure it was loaded. "Now they know you're here or near here."

River didn't reply, knowing they would never understand what happened between her and Janice.

"It's a sure bet someone spotted her at that park. Police could be on the way here right now," Wash said with worry.

"We did what we came here to do, sir," Zoe said. "What now?"

"We'll never get her off of this place," Mal said as he paced and thought. "They'll be checking every ship."

"I have a plan," said River and after she told them it they all thought and thought and looked at all the angles and in the end had to agree that not only was it brilliant but it was the only option they had. They were going to get River Tam off of Paquin the same way she came aboard Serenity: in a cyro-chamber.

* * *

"Someone is following me," Simon said to Kaylee as they lay in bed at her father's house back on Taos.

It had been two days since their adventure with their former shipmates. Oren laid down the law when they got back, and Simon was never allowed back on Serenity unless there was a medical emergency. Kaylee's punishment was to be docked a week's pay and both were sworn to silence over the matter. The electric fence and guard posts were now up around Serenity and if they ever had to steal it again it would be awful tough to do so. Oren also told them that all messages coming and going to them or Kaylee's father were being watched.

Then on the second day as Simon was heading to the clinic he thought he spotted someone following him and his two Alliance guards. He said nothing to them and went about his business but saw the same person on the street later that day. It was man, very young, not older than River and he was staring intently at Simon.

"You have to tell Captain Oren," Kaylee said with worry. "There's folks out there that want to know what I know."

Simon promised to tell Oren the next day after the clinic closed. But as he saw his first patient in the morning, the need to do so vanished.

The young man who had been staring at him walked in. Simon was immediately on his guard. He knew the guards checked everyone for weapons and ID, but that didn't make this man any less dangerous. The young man had jet black hair, dark brown eyes and seemed to be a mix of Oriental and Caucasian.

"What can I do for you?' Simon asked, doing his job, maybe just being paranoid after all they had been through.

"I'm not sick," the man said in a whisper. "Not physically anyways."

Simon gulped. "Ah…then why are you here?"

"I was sent, to watch you."

"Sent? By who?"

"Admiral Shin."

"Shin? Yes, I met him once, seemed like an unpleasant sort. What's this all about?"

"Your sister, Doctor Tam. I was at the academy with her."

Now Simon understood. He was sent to watch him in case River tried to contact him or come here. Shin was after his sister with a vengeance. "Why can't you people leave us alone?" he said in an angry tone.

"I'm not here to hurt you or River. I'm trying to get away from them. I need your help," the young man said and it was almost a plea and Simon could now see desperation in his eyes.

"My help?"

"I knew River. I was…like her. You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do. Get on the table." He sat on it and Simon took his stethoscope and started checking his heart rate.

"I said I am not sick…not physically sick."

"It's for the guards," Simon said. "In case they or someone else walks in. Now tell me what is troubling you."

"I have nightmares. I wake up in places and I don't know how I got there. Sometimes I have blood on my hands. I remember things that never happened to me, that must have happened to other people. You're a doctor. They told me everything about you and your wife before I was sent here. I was to watch you in case River tried to contact you or come here. You must know something about your sister's condition…about mine and the others."

Simon was not totally surprised. To think that his sister was the only one in the verse with psychic ability was illogical. "How many others?"

"There were four of us, who had some separate training from the other students at the academy. Four that I know of, in the years I was there."

"Does Shin and the Alliance know what you and River are?"

"I don't know."

"What's your name?"

"Derek Bowen. I'm 21 years old. And I am a killer. Please help me."

* * *

"Never thought I see the day," Zoe said with a big grin.

"I think Book would have enjoyed this moment," Wash said with a barely suppressed laugh.

"I ain't punched anyone in while little man," Jayne said with a grimace. "Keep it up and you'll be next."

"Now we'll have none of that Shepherd Cobb…I mean Book," Mal said. "Holy men don't go hitting folks."

They were in a seedy hotel in the seediest part of Santos City. Jayne was dressed in Shepherd's garb, standing in front of a cracked mirror, looking none too comfortable.

"Do I have to be so grey?" Jayne said in disgust, looking at his hair and beard dyed really only slightly grey by Zoe.

"Need to look the part," Wash said, still barely controlling his laughter.

"Least let me carry a gun, Mal," Jayne said. "I feels naked without one."

"No," Mal said sternly. "They find one weapon on you the jig is up."

"What about my guns?"

"We'll take Vera and your favorite pistol," Zoe said. "Rest, well, guess they'll have to stay here."

"This plan don't work, I'm a coming looking for all of you," Jayne growled.

The plan was simple but expensive to pull off. After River was well enough to walk, they skedaddled from the hotel, Mal checking out claiming he didn't like the rooms. A bartender in a nearby waterhole pointed them in the direction of the bad part of town. It took the better part of two days to find the right scumbags with connections and to put the plan together and it cost them most of the Australian bank swag and a chunk of Mal's new fortune. A new ID for Jayne was obtained, using Book's name is case anyone asked questions or checked if there was a real Shepherd Book from the Southdown Abbey. Mal just hoped like hell there was no picture with those records, since Jayne sure as hell didn't look like Book. But Jayne was the oldest, and if they checked the age Jayne could pass, especially with the grey now in his beard and hair.

A Shepherd's outfit for Jayne, with proper documentation, a cyro-chamber used for delivering pets on long haul space voyages, and the necessary medicine and documentation for a pet dog were all also purchased. Mal found a freighter captain that would take them to Sihnon for the right price, no questions asked. All they had to do was get into the spaceport with their cargo and avoid the blockade the captain told them was definitely put on Paquin and which was annoying all ships' captains to no end.

"It's time," said Zoe to River and the two women went off to another room they had booked.

In the room were the cyro-chamber and a syringe with the drugs she would need to sleep.

Zoe was nervous as she checked the drugs. "Sure these are the right drugs?"

"Yes," said River as she took off her clothing. She had been the one who remembered what Simon and she had taken when they entered the hospital on Ariel. "It will keep me asleep for one week. Before one week is over, the chamber must be opened, or I will awake and suffocate."

Zoe opened the chamber and the now nude River stepped inside. She was calm and Zoe didn't know if it was false bravado or not. "It's going to pinch a little," Zoe said.

"I know."

"What happens…do you dream?"

"No. Just…it's very peaceful. The brainwave activity is almost nothing, just enough to keep me alive. I would look dead to anyone who didn't know better."

"Just glad it's not me. Ready?

"Just one more thing." River reached out and gave Zoe a big hug. "Thank you for coming for me."

"Least we could do after all you did for us."

"I've been a lot of trouble," River said like a little girl who has been bad.

"Well, don't fret none over it. Trouble was never far behind us before we meet you anyways. See you on Sihnon."

Zoe injected the drug and then in seconds River was asleep. Zoe checked to make sure she had a pulse and there is was, weak, but there. She placed River in a fetal position in the chamber and closed it. She read the instructions the man who sold it to them had provided and set the controls.

Now it was up to Jayne to get the package on board and hopefully past the blockade.

* * *

"Halt," the guard said at the spaceport main gate. Jayne just smiled, kept his cool and tried to think what the Shepherd would do in a case like this. There were plenty of Alliance around and Jayne could see they had a poster of River up saying "Wanted" with a bunch of details beneath.

"Yes, my son. Here's my ID."

Jayne handed over the card and after a moment in the scanner it was handed back. "Shepherd Book, what's in the cyro-chamber?"

"My pet dog. He's going to sleep all the way to Sihnon." The cyro-chamber and his bag were on a mechanical lift that Jayne just had to push and then an engine engaged and moved the load.

"Documents?"

Jayne handed over the papers, all real, from a dishonest veterinarian who would sign anything for the right price. The guard looked them over, handed them back and waved Jayne through.

"Thank you my son, "a Jayne said in as pious a manner as he could muster. "May the Lord be with you."

As Jayne headed for the freighter they chartered with his package in tow, Mal, Zoe, and Wash were about five minutes behind him.

"Halt," the guard said. "ID's."

They handed them over. After a few moments the guard's eyes narrowed. "You'll have to come with me."

Mal grew suspicious. "What's the trouble?"

"Routine check. Just take a few moments."

Mal pulled out a thick wad of bills from his pocket, which the guard saw right away. He hesitated and Mal knew he had him. "Now, son, I know you don't make all that much. I'm a businessman and I got a lot of business to take care of on Sihnon. I don't make this ship, might be days before I can find another. You understand what I'm saying?" As Mal said the last he held out the cash.

"Not here!" the guard whispered fiercely. They went inside a little side office and in a few moments Mal was back with their IDs, a little less poorer but on their way.

"What was it about?" Wash said. "I mean, we got pardons for our past crimes, didn't we?"

"That son-of-a-bitch Oren, I bet," Mal said through clenched teeth. "Pissed at me for telling him what to do to save his own life. He told someone something. Serenity must have got stopped by the blockade and he talked to them. He must know River is Simon's sister, thought maybe we are here not by chance."

"Might be a short trip," Zoe said. "They'll ID us on the freighter, pull us off."

"Then Jayne will have to do the job by himself," Mal said. "Just remember, we ain't broke no laws. Yet."

In a few minutes they were on the ship, stowing their luggage in their rooms. They were the only passengers, Mal paying the captain enough to keep anyone else off and him and his crew's mouths shut in case they got boarded.

Boarded they did get, not thirty minutes off Paquin. As the Alliance troops came on board, the passengers and crew waited in the cargo bay, IDs out and ready.

"We are looking for a fugitive and are doing a search of all passengers and crew and a search of your ship. We appreciate your cooperation," said the officer in charge to the captain. She was medium build, with long black hair in a pony tail and the name Flowers on her uniform right breast pocket.

As the soldiers fanned out Janice Flowers checked all the IDs. Mal waited for them to be hauled off and questioned but nothing happened and he didn't know why. Maybe the Alliance didn't know they were on a freighter, maybe they still thought they were on the planet.

Mal was right. Janice had no orders to search for anyone but River Tam. She didn't recognize their names since River had never mentioned them or Serenity in the brief time they had spent together.

"Aren't you a Flying Officer?" Mal said to her, knowing his Alliance uniforms.

"Yes, that's right. Are you a former soldier?" Janice asked. Wash winced, wondering where this was heading. Why couldn't Mal just keep his mouth shut?

"Browncoat," Mal said proudly. "Just wondering what a Flying Officer is doing leading a search team."

Janice had never meet a Browncoat before, the war a brief memory from her childhood. Before Janice could answer, a soldier came up to her. "We found something, ma'am. A cyro-chamber."

"Oh, that's mine," Jayne said in haste. "Has my pet dog in it." He produced the documents for the chamber.

Janice looked them over and everything seemed correct. "OK. Let them go. They're clean. We're finished here."

"No, they aren't, ma'am, said the soldier, who had been on many such searches the last few days. "Protocol says we must open any cyro-chambers."

Janice was new at this business of boarding ships. She was assigned to this mundane task after a few days rest, there being very little flying to do and the staff overworked by all these boardings of ships. She knew they were looking for River and she hoped like hell she wouldn't find her. Janice had been barely able to sleep, confused over her feelings for River and her duty to the Alliance. No one had accused her of anything and everyone remarked on how well she had stood up to being kidnapped by a ruthless murderer. But if she didn't open that chamber as per orders she would come under suspicion.

"Very well, where is it?" she asked her subordinate.

"Hold on just a gor…a gosh darn minute," Jayne said in a fluster. "Excuse my language, Lord. I paid a lot of money for the drugs to put him asleep and for the chamber and that their document. He wakes up, he might get sick and he might die."

"I'm sorry Shepherd, but I have my orders," Janice said. "The Alliance will compensate you for your loss if it comes to that. But I have to open that chamber."


	6. Chapter 6

_Mal and Inara finally get to talk, Jayne is called on to lead a congregation, and Simon wonders if he'll ever see his sister again._

**River's Run – Part 6 **

Mal had always known those pardons from the Alliance would only keep him out of trouble for a short while. He'd end up punching someone who said something about Inara or someone he knew and cared about would do something stupid and he'd have to bend and break the law to help them. But he always thought he'd have a little bit of peace. Guess around two weeks counts for a little bit, Mal thought, as he heard the words come from Flying Office Janice Flowers.

"I have to open that chamber."

They were in the cargo bay of a Bluebird class freighter called the Rose, bit smaller than a Firefly, but newer and cleaner. There were only four crew members, the captain and three others, two men and a woman. The captain was old, almost as old as Book had been, was medium height, muscular, and had a bald head with a fringe of white. The two other men were in their 20s, lean and tough looking, one Chinese, the other black, and Mal thought they'd be good in a scrap. The woman was as white as the captain, with short brown hair, in her 40s. She was the pilot and she was plain but not homely and was as tall as Zoe.

They were in as deep as trouble as Mal, Zoe, Wash, and Jayne if that officer opened the cyro-chamber and found fugitive River Tam inside. Making things worse were the fact that the crew was unarmed as was Jayne dressed in his Shepherd's outfit, and Wash, who never carried a gun unless he was told to. That left Mal and Zoe's guns against five Alliance troopers and the officer. Maybe the crew might take one or two out if they got surprise. Mal had no doubt they could take them down, but that left the little problem of being docked to the Alliance cruiser Saratoga. Even if they did manage to get away, the cruiser had fighters and missiles. He thought of bribing this officer, but she looked like the honest type and that soldier who mentioned their orders certainly was. No, there was no escaping this one. No matter what he did in the next few minutes, they would truly join the criminal world once again. But not as prisoners, that was certain. Mal had no intention of ending his days pounding rocks on a penal colony moon.

Mal could see the muscles twitching in Jayne's face as he stuck his finger in the officer's face to make his point. "You kill my dog, Lord gonna be mighty sore at you all."

"Then open it yourself," she said. "I have no idea how they work and perhaps if you know how then we can limit the chance of hurting your dog. I just need to see a tail or a paw."

"I don't know how they work!" Jayne said, his voice getting louder despite the look Mal was giving him. "The vet did it all. Told me to find another vet when we reached Sihnon and he would rev…reviv…wake him up!"

"Just calm down, Shepherd," Zoe said. "I've used a cyro-chamber before, Officer Flowers. Used to work in the loading bay of a freighter. Dealt with them a few times. Maybe I can help."

"Thank you. Come with me," said Janice as she followed the soldier to where the cyro-chamber was located, in the back, under some other boxes and a tarp where Jayne had made a half-assed attempt to hide it.

Zoe knew what she had to do and so did Mal. They had divided the Alliance soldiers. Zoe would take out Flowers and the solder with her and Mal, Jayne, and Wash had to take out the other four and the crew could join in if they had a mind to staying out of a penal colony. Once the soldiers were disabled they'd detach from the ship and Mal would make damn sure Wash was in the pilot's seat no matter what the captain said. Mal knew they would run, had to run, cause he wasn't made to be in no prison, not after Hera. He swore he'd die before ever going back to an Alliance lock down.

As soon as the chamber was opened and Flowers saw River, Zoe decided she would jam Flowers head first into the top of it and then she'd shoot the soldier. He stood by as Zoe and Janice pulled the heavy silver box out on its mechanical lift. The side with the controls and the latches was away from the rest of them. Zoe and Janice moved around to that side and only they could see into it. Zoe had read the instructions a few times but hesitated a moment as she forgot how it opened. Then she remembered the one River came to Serenity on and saw that this one wasn't much different.

"I'm not going to touch the life controls," Zoe said. "I'll just undo these two latches, you take a quick peek and then I'll shut it."

"Fine," said Janice, really hoping she didn't kill the Shepherd's dog. She liked dogs, and she had some religion, so she knew if this went bad God might not be so kind to her in the future. If that soldier hadn't followed her back her, she wouldn't even have opened it. And if River was inside, and these people were trying to smuggle her off Paquin, she didn't know what she'd do.

The soldiers were relaxed, not really understanding they were about to be in a fight. Mal slowly moved his hand to where his pistol was hidden by his long coat. Jayne tensed his muscles, ready to bash heads in, and Wash gulped and tried to decide who the smallest soldier was. Mal made eye contact with the captain and suddenly the captain got the feeling all was not right on his ship. Then there was a hiss from the chamber as it opened.

Zoe lifted the edge and as the foggy steam came out both her and Janice could clearly see River's right leg and foot and then an arm and finally some hair and the tip of her nose. Zoe watched the officer's face and just as she was going to grab her head and smash it into the chamber top, Janice slammed the lid shut and starting working the latches.

"It's a dog," she said so loud everyone could hear her. In seconds the latches were shut and Zoe could see that the integrity of the chamber wasn't spoiled and all life signs were still in the green. Janice and the soldier came back to where the others were and Zoe soon joined them. Mal, Jayne, and Wash were giving looks to Zoe and she was avoiding their eyes so as not to give things away.

"Captain, here is your clearance," Janice said as she signed a paper and handed it to the freighter captain, who put on a big grin as he accepted. "Have a nice trip to Sihnon."

She turned to her soldiers. "Let's go." The five started to file off and as the last one left, Janice stopped by the hatch. She turned back to Zoe and in a low whisper said, "Tell River I said good luck." Zoe could see something in her eyes, something like sadness, and knew there was some connection between her and River. And then she was gone.

* * *

"I don't want excuses, Admiral Shin," Prime Minister Blakely said in her sternest manner on the Cortex screen in Shin's office. "Just bring them back."

"It may be too late. They are already more than a dozen of them searching for her," Shin said calmly. Blakely found out, how did not matter as the subjects were already in play and the game had begun.

"Those children were part of Cutter's program, not mine," Blakely said. "I want them brought back to Londinium for de-programming as we originally decided."

"They will be, after Tam is taken care of," Shin said. "She is still a dangerous fugitive. Two young boys were killed in a park on Paquin. Tam was ID'd by a survivor of her attack. Said she robbed them of their belongings."

"And you let more River Tams loose on the galaxy! Bring them all back!"

"After the job is done." They stared at each other and finally Blakely relented.

"Very well. But I want something in return."

"I am at your command."

She raised an eyebrow slightly. "Oh really? Well, in that case contact Colonel Justin Powers on Miranda and order him to return to Londinium at once. I have a new job for him."

Shin was suddenly suspicious. "What job?"

"The cabinet has decided. Colonel Powers is going to be the new High Chancellor of the Alliance and head of the Ministry of the Interior."

* * *

"He said he was just like River," Simon told Kaylee as they sat eating lunch in the kitchen of her father's home, her father and Mary still at the factory.

"You mean…he can read minds?" Kaylee asked skeptically. One mind reader was pretty fantastic, but two would be just downright incredible.

"I don't know," Simon replied, sounding exasperated. "He couldn't explain it properly. He says he has nightmares, he wakes up in strange places with blood on his hands, says he knows he killed people. Sometimes he babbles nonsense, like River. Also, he remembers things that never happened to him, memories that aren't his."

"Sure sounds like River," Kaylee said as she picked up Simon's plate and put it in the sink. "Can you help him?"

"I couldn't help River, so…no. But I gave him an injection like I give…gave…River. That will help him, for today."

Kaylee was silent for a moment as she poured them some water for tea. Then suddenly she turned to her husband. "How do you think River is doing….I mean, without her medicine."

Simon's face grew more serious and slowly shook his head. "I have no idea. I…I still don't understand it all. Did she get better after knowing where Miranda is and what it is? Did she get worse? I have no idea. It's frustrating. And I don't have the equipment here to help Derek."

"Where is he now?"

"He's not alone. He has a partner and they are staying at the small inn on Rose Street. His partner is pure Alliance, all the way and not like him at all."

"Gosh, two of them. To watch us?"

"That's what he said."

"We have to tell Oren."

Simon shook his head. "I think that won't help anyone much. They aren't after us. They want to find River. I'm guessing Oren has no idea they are here."

"I gotta wave the Capt'n, tell him there maybe someone looking for them, someone like River."

"Oren is watching our waves."

"Then we'll get a friend to do it, from a public Cortex screen."

"Maybe that will work. God, I hope they find her. I'm afraid…" but he couldn't say the words.

Kaylee came to his side and held him. "Hush now, don't be fretting none. We'll get her back, and make all this bad stuff go away and then we'll have a nice big wedding."

Simon felt better and loved her optimism, but he couldn't shake the feeling that everything wasn't going to turn out so right.

* * *

"You say it's a dog, Shepherd, I believe you," said the freighter captain to Jayne. "Just you all seemed mighty nervous when she asked to open it."

They were sitting in the small dining facility on the Rose, all of the crew and passengers, eating lunch, about an hour after their close encounter with the Alliance.

"It's a dog," Jayne said as he sipped some coffee.

"So how do you all know each other?" the pilot asked. "I mean, you booked passage together."

Mal looked at the captain. "We had a deal. No questions."

"No, that's OK, Mr. Reynolds," Jayne said, having a story prepared in case they did get nosy. Most of it was lies but at least some was true. "I met them in my church but a few days ago. Said they was going to Sihnon. I had a notion to go since a friend of mine died. Wanted me to deliver a letter to a lady he knew and tell her about him and what happened. The dog was his. Wanted her to have it. Them soldiers coulda killed it. Just, when Alliance can't trust a man of the cloth, I don't know what the verse is coming to."

"I hear you, Shepherd," said one of the crewmen, the Chinese fellow. "Alliance hardly lets a man breathe." Oh, my type of folks, Mal thought. "Hope it ain't imposing Shepherd, but we was kinda hoping you can give a service tomorrow. After all it is Sunday." Then again, Mal thought, maybe not.

Wash almost choked on his food. "Oh, that would be lovely Shepherd Ja...Book. I sure could use some of that good old religion myself."

Jayne just sighed and tried to look sad. "I'm awfully sorry, but I seemed to have left my Bible behind on Paquin by accident."

"Oh, no worries," said the captain. "I got one on board. Helps to pray sometimes to ask forgiveness for the things I often carry."

"Well, I know bit about that," Mal told him. "But I never did pray much or have any use for religion. I'm sure Shepherd Book wouldn't mind if I missed tomorrow's service."

"Why, Mr. Reynolds," Jayne said with deadly seriousness. "Are you sure there ain't no sins you want to unburden?"

Mal smiled and at the same time glared a little at Jayne across the table. "No, I'm quite sure my soul is saved already, Shepherd. Thank you."

Jayne let it go, knowing Mal was getting pissed. The captain went off and returned a few minutes later with his Bible, which Jayne piously thanked him for. After a while the crew went off to do things and the four friends were left alone, finally.

"What the hell happened?" Mal asked Zoe immediately.

"And what did she whisper to you?" Wash asked.

Zoe almost smiled. "Well, she definitely saw a leg, some a hair, and a nose, and it wasn't a dog's, as I'm sure you know. I'm guessing she's the pilot River kidnapped."

"Huh?" said Jayne, looking up from the Bible he was leafing through. "No rutting way."

"Language, Shepherd," Wash said and Jayne almost threw the Bible at him until he noticed Mal's glare.

"What did she say, Zoe?" Mal asked.

"Tell River good luck."

The three men just stared at her. "No kidding?" Wash said first.

"What the hell happened down there?" Mal wondered.

Jayne leered. "I can do some imagining. For an Alliance officer to let her go…River had to be very good."

Wash looked puzzled. "What are you…no, that's crazy."

"Is it?" Mal asked. "After all, she's had training in lots of things. Maybe one more we hadn't thought of before."

Zoe just shook her head. "Men," she mumbled and she went off to where she and Wash were bunked.

Mal finished his coffee and set the cup on the table. "Guess we won't know till we get to Sihnon and River wakes up."

"How long I gotta keep playing Shepherd?" Jayne asked in a low voice.

"Five more whole days," Wash said with a grin.

"You know, I seem to recall Book using his fists once in a while," Jayne replied in a growl as he glared at Wash.

"Enough, Shepherd," Mal said. "This crew may be no friend of the Alliance, but I don't want them telling no stories when were gone, dong ma?"

"I got it," Jayne replied as he picked up his Bible again. "What in the gorr…hel….am I gonna preach on?"

"I think you should preach on forgiveness and all that turning of the other cheek thing," Wash said, trying to be serious but failing, his giggles escaping his mouth and Jayne once more threatened to turn his blond hair grey.

Mal had had enough of their banter and went to his bunk just off the cargo bay. He sat on the narrow bunk and thought on her and wondered what she was doing now and most of all wondered if the message he sent to the Companion Guild House had gotten through.

* * *

It was night on Sihnon and Inara had had a very tiring two days. Paulo had only seen her once, for a brief moment, and she barely had time to bat her eyes and even begin to try to seduce him before he left her alone. Books were brought to her and a vid screen with the local entertainment broadcasting, but no Cortex screen and no communication device of any kind was near. Inara searched high and low for a means out of her two rooms and none was to be found. She thought of playing sick but knew Paulo could call on a private doctor to come, someone in his pay no doubt.

Inara had just about given up on escape when suddenly it was handed to her. Just as she was about to retire for the night the key turned in the door lock and Paulo entered.

"Gather your things, you are leaving," he said in a cold manner.

"Leaving? For where? Another of your mansions? Or perhaps a lofty apartment where you bring your mistresses?" Inara said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

"You have ten minutes," was all he said and he left and this time didn't lock the door. Inara didn't know what to make of this so quickly packed her bags and went to the door. It opened and a servant was waiting outside. He took her bags and she started following him, through some halls, down a wide staircase and to the front entrance where Paulo was waiting.

"This matter is not ended," he said, still cold, hardly looking at her. "When Reynolds arrives I will duel with him or you shall never have your divorce."

"Paulo, for the last time, I will never be your wife or your lover," Inara replied. "Just let me pay you the bride price and sign the papers and be done with this matter."

Now he stared at her. "You have friends in high places. They can protect you now. But the law is still the law. You are my wife and that man is your lover. I am allowed a duel to satisfy my honor and restore my reputation. Now, good evening, Mrs. Chase. A car awaits you."

Inara didn't know what to make of this last. Friends in high places? But she didn't hesitate for long, picked up her two bags and exited the door the servant held open. And then she smiled and knew what had happened.

A car waited for her. She knew it at once. It belonged to the Head Mistress of the Companion Guild House. In seconds her bags were in the trunk and Inara was inside being whisked away.

After brief greetings Inara got right to the point. "How did you know?"

"A certain gentleman sent you a message and mentioned the name Paulo Chase," the Head Mistress explained.

"Mal," Inara said quietly.

"Yes," replied the Head Mistress. "He asked who Paulo Chase was and why you were waving him from that address. Sorry but I had to open the message. We had expected you three days ago. Once we knew you had arrived on the cruiser, I suspected Chase was behind your failure to contact me. With the wave from your 'friend', I had enough proof to tell Chase he could be accused of kidnapping. I do know a judge or two and some high ranking police officials. Chase saw the wisdom in letting you go before one more scandal was added to his family's name."

"It's not over yet," Inara said and then she explained the whole story, about her and Mal and how Paulo now wanted to duel him.

"It is his right," the Head Mistress said after mulling it over a bit. "The law says a man may duel his wife's lover."

"I know, but how can they prove it?"

"There is no need for proof, suspicion is enough, under the old customs. If Reynolds was a nobleman he would be required to fight or his reputation would be destroyed."

"Believe me, he's no nobleman," Inara replied with some of that old sarcasm and as soon as the words were out she regretted them.

"But he is noble, yes?"

"Yes," Inara said, with a touch of pride. "Nobler than any man I ever met."

"I could never imagine what kind of man would win your heart. He must be quite the man," the Head Mistress said and then her face grew grim. "It's a shame…Chase is the best with the sword."

"I'll just tell Mal to stay away and I'll leave also," Inara said with a sort of finality to her statement.

The Head Mistress shook her head. "No matter where you go, the Alliance law will follow. I am afraid your new man will have to duel or this will hang over your heads the rest of your lives."

"And I am afraid if they do duel, the wrong man will win. Is there nothing we can do to stop Paulo?"

"No," said the Head Mistress. "The powers that be will support him. Men must be allowed their little games if they are to maintain the illusion that they are in charge."

* * *

One more man was also trying to keep in charge of what he saw as rightful sphere of power. Admiral Shin was on a Cortex conference call with ten other generals and admirals, all the top ranks of the fleet and army. The ten faces appeared on his screen in his office at fleet headquarters, the call as secure as they could make it.

"Gentlemen," Shin began. "The reason for this call has to do with the new appointee to the position of High Chancellor."

"Who have they selected?" one old admiral asked.

"Colonel Justin Powers."

Shin could see the anger and surprise on many faces as he expected. "That's an outrage," one general said. "Powers is not a policeman, not a civilian. He's a military officer. Order him to not accept."

"I have already ordered him to not accept and he resigned his commission," Shin said. "He is now a civilian."

"So, he has agreed to become High Chancellor?" another admiral asked.

"Yes. Seemed almost glad at the appointment. I suspect Blakely had already sounded him out for the job before he was nominated by the cabinet. He will leave Miranda for Londinium on one of our gunships and will be here by week's end."

"Well, he's no Cutter," another general stated. "Perhaps we can control him."

An admiral scoffed. "You couldn't control him before or during the war when he was supposed to be following orders. How do you expect to control him now?"

"The admiral is right," Shin said. "He will be Blakely's dog and that's what she wants. The Ministry of the Interior will be a counter to the military as always but this time the Prime Minister will hold the leashes."

"Taking orders from a woman is bad enough," said the first old admiral. "But that upstart Powers, too? I won't stand for it."

Many others agreed. "So what shall we do?" Shin asked and suddenly they all became quiet and more than one looked nervous. "I mean, I could…persuade… him not to accept? But we'd all have to agree."

One by one the military men gave their consent to whatever Shin had in mind. After he ended the conference, Shin leaned back in his chair and smiled. The conference call had been recorded, of course. Now he had them, all of them, and they would do whatever he wanted in the future.

There was just one more thing to do, Shin thought. How am I going to kill Justin Powers?

* * *

"Amen," Jayne said and his congregation of six repeated and blessed themselves and the service was over. Beads of sweat had popped out on Jayne's head and he was never so happy to be finished something when he closed the Bible shut on the dining area table.

"Great service, Shepherd," said Wash and then with his mock seriousness added, "Sure would like to make confession now."

Zoe just glared at her husband. "I think the Shepherd looks a might tired, dear."

"I ain't made confession in a long time," said the captain nervously, looking at Jayne. "My soul needs to unburden itself of some sin."

"Shiny," Jayne said with a forced grin. The rest of the crew, Zoe and Wash filed out and Jayne was left alone with the captain. Of course, Mal hadn't come to the service and volunteered to sit on the bridge while it was going on. The captain was reluctant to let anyone on his bridge but Mal told him about how he, Zoe and Wash used to own a Firefly but got jumped by scavengers and lost their ship. After some more stories and a bit of captain bonding, the captain let Mal up to the bridge. He used the chance to send another message to Inara from the bridge Cortex screen. They were close enough for face to face and to his delight she answered him at the Guild House. They both looked guilty as they saw each other for the first time in almost a week, both not being quite honest with each other recently.

"Hi," Mal started and then didn't know what to say.

"Hello, Mal," Inara said and they just stared at each other and then suddenly they were talking at the same time.

"I'm sorry I ran off…" Mal started.

"I should have told you about…" Inara began and then they both stopped. "You first," Inara said.

"Sorry I went looking for River," Mal said, casting his eyes away a bit. "Just something I had to do."

"I know and…I told Kaylee to tell you I had forgiven you."

"I got the message. Just nice hearing you say it."

"Did you find her?"

"Well, not exactly…she found us."

Inara's face broke into a big smile. "Oh, that's wonderful. Where is she now?"

"Here. We're on the way to Sihnon. It's a long story."

Inara grew worried. "Sihnon? Mal, she's wanted by the Alliance. They will inspect every person getting off a ship."

"No problem. She'll land on Sihnon same way she came aboard Serenity."

"Oh…that might work. Does Simon know?"

"Can't chance it. Alliance will be watching his waves."

"Yes, I'm sure of it," Inara hesitated not sure how to say the next part. "Mal…about Paulo Chase…."

"He's your husband, right?"

Nothing could have surprised Inara more. "Ah…yes. How did you find out?"

Mal told her the tale that Oren told him. "You were that girl."

"Yes, I was. I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner. I thought…I could pay the bride price and be done with him. I was going to tell you everything, I promise."

"It don't matter none. I know you had a life before you came on board Serenity. Why is it so fire important to divorce this guy? I mean you never were his wife, not really."

Inara blushed. "Because of us. I wanted a divorce so we could have a life…in peace. Now it seems that won't happen."

Inara explained it all, including the confinement and Mal's blood began to boil and he had a few choice Chinese swear words for Paulo Chase. Then she mentioned what Chase wanted and Mal just shook his head. "A duel? These gorramn Alliance snobs. I suppose this one's with swords, too?"

"Yes."

Mal shrugged. "I got four more days to brush up on my swordsmanship. I took Atherton Wing, I'm sure I can take this guy. Bastard deserves to be gutted for the way he treated you and your family."

"Mal, just find him and kill him. Forget the duel."

"What?" Mal said, slightly shocked Inara would suggest such a thing. "Inara, that wouldn't very gentlemanly of me, now would it?"

"Buddha save me," she exclaimed with her eyes rolling. "Since when have you been a gentleman when it comes to a fight? Just do what you always do."

"You think I'm going to lose?" he asked, a little bit taken aback.

She was silent for a moment. "Mal…he's very good. Better than Wing ever could be."

"Might be something to that just find and kill him thing you mentioned. Well, then again, the Alliance would surely be after me for that one and there'd be no peace. Nope, looks like a duel he wants, a duel he gets."

Inara's face grew angry and Mal could feel her wrath from millions of kilometers away. "Men! Idiots!"

"Well…can't disagree with that."

"Let's just run! We've done that before."

"Never did us much good, now did it?"

"No," she said quietly, trying to keep her composure. "Mal…I can't lose you…now that I finally found you."

"Didn't know you was looking for me."

"I wasn't…not you in particular. But someone I could depend on. Too many men in my life have always done what they thought best for me, and never thought on what I wanted. Can you do just one thing I want?"

"Inara…you know I'd do anything in the verse for you. But this is something we have to take care of. If the man won't listen to reason, then he needs dealing with."

"Then do it my way, not his."

"Let's leave this for after. We got four whole days to think on it. Situation might change in that time."

"Maybe you're right. I'm sorry…for all this trouble."

"Ain't no trouble…I love you and it's all worth it."

Inara brightened and smiled broadly. "I wish you were here. I miss you so much, my love."

"Soon. We'll take care of it all. Promise," Mal said and then they said their final goodbyes and Mal ended the wave.

* * *

Not an hour later Paulo Chase was listening to the whole of Mal and Inara's conversation in his family's company offices. After it was over, Chase turned to a man who was an expert in intelligence gathering for the private sector. "That's all of it?"

"Yes, sir, copied directly from the Guild House Cortex feed."

"This first part, about someone named River that Reynolds was looking for and Simon, who the Alliance is watching, and…Serenity. What do you make of it?"

"Not sure, sir. But the Firefly with the Frye drive on board, rumor is that it was called Serenity. The engineer that built it, Kaylee Frye, she has a husband named Simon Tam, a doctor from Osiris. It's all over the Cortex."

"This is getting more interesting. And River?"

"Not so sure. I can find out. Perhaps she is related to Dr. Tam, since they seem concerned about giving him the news that River was found."

"Yes, that could be it. Please check. This could be valuable information."

Paulo handed him a thick envelope with cash. "Keep watching her communications until that ship arrives. Any conversations between the two copied and sent to me directly. Payment will be the same."

"Sir, the longer I monitor the greater the chance I will be discovered."

"Fine, double your basic fee and for any recordings. Satisfied?"

"Very well, sir." The man left and Chase was alone with his thoughts. Now I have proof, you whore, proof of your love for this man. Now my challenge will be accepted by the law and I can kill Reynolds without consequence.

Paulo knew this would only add to the scandalous tale of Inara and him. But it had to be done, to restore some of his honor. He knew there were powerful men who would look on this deed as the proper course of action. No matter that Inara never stood as his wife, he would have restored his honor by killing her lover. Some might say he would have to kill more than one man, and maybe even a few women, who had shared the pleasures of Inara's chambers over the years. Yet she did not love them and this made Reynolds a special case.

Paulo changed into his fencing outfit and retired to the lower levels of the building. There he practiced for the next three hours, using a variety of blades, never tiring as he dueled with his sparring partners. He would be ready for Reynolds. And if Reynolds tried to shoot him in the back, as Inara had said, Paulo had a few surprises for him. His family's fortunes might be waning, but there was still enough wealth to buy the things and people he needed to make sure Malcolm Reynolds never left Sihnon.

* * *

"Sit down!" shouted the commander of the ground search team as he shoved the spaceport guard into the chair in an interrogation room on the Saratoga.

The guard looked like he was half drunk and his face had some bruises and cuts and swollen lips. The door opened and the Saratoga's captain entered.

"Did you have to beat him?" he asked as he got a look at the guard.

"That was done in bar fight last night," the commander said. "The local police picked him up. And they found this on him." The commander threw a thick wad of bills on the table.

"That's mine," said the guard through thick lips. "Won it gambling."

"Not what your bunk mate said," the commander stated. "Claimed you had that money, and were flashing it around the barracks after duty, asking if anyone wanted to go drinking."

"It's my pay."

"Pay day was two weeks ago," the commander said. "And you don't make that much."

The captain decided to play good cop. "Tell us, son. Who bribed you to let them into the spaceport?"

"No one, it's my money. I won it fair and square."

"Thought you said it was your pay!" the commander shouted, right in his face. A knock came to the door, the commander answered and then after talking to someone went to a computer screen on the wall, hit buttons, and a vid of the spaceport gate played.

"We have the security camera feed from two days ago," he said. "Something unusual happened."

The vid showed Mal, Zoe, and Wash, Mal flashing the money and then going inside the room with the guard.

The captain glared at the guard. "Who are they?"

The guard said nothing. The commander slammed the table. "Answer the captain or you're looking at 25 years on a penal colony!"

The guard's eyes showed panic as they flicked from one officer to the other and he was almost in tears now. "It's just a bit of money. They weren't listed as dangerous, just to be stopped and reported to a superior."

"The names," the captain said but he already thought he knew.

"I can't remember," the guard said.

The commander worked the vid screen and then pulled in close on Mal. The captain looked closely. "It's Reynolds. Two of the others, the Washburnes, black woman, white male with blond hair. Where's the fourth? Cobb?"

"There were just three of them, I swear!" said the guard.

"Anything else happen that day, anything strange?" the commander asked.

"Nothing…except for the Shepherd and his dog. Just before those three. He had all the right papers, ID, papers for his dog."

They played the vid feed back and could see Jayne and his large silver box.

"That's Cobb, playing Shepherd," said the captain.

"And that's a cyro-chamber," said the commander. "There's no dog in there. Tam's in that chamber the smart money says."

"Has to be," said the captain. "Find out what ship they boarded and where it is heading, now."

"What about him?" the commander asked, pointing to the guard.

"Lock him up. Military tribunal, 1500 hours tomorrow. Charge, accepting a bribe and allowing wanted fugitives to escape. Minimum sentence, five years, hard labor."

The guard let out a moan and covered his bruised face with his hands. The two officers left the room and told two soldiers to drag the guard off to the prison cells.

"What do we do when we find that ship, sir?" the commander asked when they got to the bridge. "There could be civilians on board."

"We stop and board it. If they try to run or fight, then they die."

Twenty minutes later they had the name of the ship, the Rose, a Bluebird class freighter on its way to Sihnon. Two days ahead of them.

"We'll never catch it," said the captain in frustration. "Alert all ships and stations to look for the ship and Sihnon command to stop that ship when it arrives."

"Yes, sir,' said a comms tech as she sent out the message for all stations and ships to be on the lookout for the Rose.

"Sir," said another member of the bridge crew as he scanned a screen. "Says here that we stopped the Rose and searched it, two days ago ."

"Who was in charge of the search?" the captain demanded.

"One moment…ah, here it is, Flying Officer Janice Flowers, sir."

The commander and the captain looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. This was too much of a coincidence to be just that.

"Get Flowers up here at once," the captain ordered. He was seething now. A ship with a fugitive and wanted people slipped right past him. Shin would have his strips for sure. If Flowers knew, if she found they were on that ship and let them go, there's going to be hell to pay.


End file.
